Here’s the official word on the long-rumored layoffs at Microsoft, courtesy Todd Bishop at TechFlash:
Microsoft this morning announced earnings well below its previous estimates and said it will be cutting 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months to adjust to the new economic reality, including 1,400 positions today. The company isn’t saying how many of the cuts will come in the Seattle region.
The company said in a news release that the cuts will be made across research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and the information-technology department. As part of the announcement, the company took the unusual step of withdrawing its previous earnings forecast, saying it can’t predict results accurately because of market volatility.
For the record, 5,000 jobs would be roughly 5.5% of their latest-reported headcount of 91,259.
Update: Mike Simonsen of real estate research firm Altos Research has a brief post up on his blog about how he feels the MS layoffs will effect the Seattle real estate market.
You’re watching the last leg of the stool being kicked out. The tech industry held out longer than most this time around. In the first half of 2008 many of the highly compensated and generally well-financed people in the tech industry were keeping prices steady in the most desirable neighborhoods of the Bay Area and Seattle (notably waterfront properties). Then as the stock markets declined in the second half of the year, we lost a lot of down-payment money. Finally this crew is now worried about basic monthly income.