Microsoft is laying off thousands of employees in a shake-up aimed at selling more subscriptions to software applications that can be used on internet-connected devices.
Most of the people losing their jobs work in sales and are located outside the US.
The Washington-based company confirmed it began sending the layoff notices on Thursday, but declined to provide further specifics except that thousands of sales jobs will be cut.
Microsoft Corporation employs approximately 121,500 people worldwide.
The cuts are part of Microsoft’s shift away from its traditional approach of licensing its Office software and other programs for a one-time fee tied to a single computer.
Instead, they will now concentrate on selling recurring – also known as ‘cloud’ – subscriptions, allowing the same user to access the software on multiple devices.
[“Source-skynews”]
