“I can confirm we're eliminating 800 jobs today," spokesman Lou Gellos said. "That's part of the larger program we announced in January."
The job cuts are in addition to the 1,200 positions that were eliminated in January and more than 3,000 in May, said Microsoft on Wednesday.
There have been very few times when the company has reduced its workforce other than for underachieving workers and routine terminations. The company expects to save $1.5 billion a year after the job cuts.
Job reduction programs
The company plans to reduce 6.3 percent of its workforce of approximately 91,000 employees. Many contract workers have been eliminated and travel expenses have been cut short.
The company spokesman held out the possibility of "additional headcount adjustments," but did not specify which divisions would see the cuts and when the cuts would happen.
Many other companies have started such job reduction programs, too, and have reduced more than thousand jobs this year. Some of the big names are International Business Machines Corp., Texas instruments, Sun Microsystems and Intel Corp.
Decline in sales
Microsoft reported its first year of declining sales in the first quarter ended Sept. 30. There was a 38 percent decline seen particularly in the Windows sales, due to the Windows 7 upgrade program.
The company's first quarter sales fell 14 percent, but it is hoping that Windows 7 will increase the sales.
Microsoft Office sales also declined significantly during the period, dropping 11 percent compared to the previous year.
The recession has done a lot of damage to the economies, and despite improvements, it will take several years to return to the normal stage. "What we see today feels like a new normal," Chief Executive Steve Ballmer was quoted as saying.
Microsoft this year has also launched MSN Direct, which provides weather, traffic and other services.
Last month, Microsoft beat Wall Street analyst expectations for its first quarter earnings and revenue.
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