Poor Windows Phone Sales Serve as Backdrop as Microsoft Lays Off 7,800 Workers

With Windows Phone sales in the pits, Microsoft announced that it will be laying off 7,800 workers and writing off $7.6 billion, all this connected to Redmond's purchase of Nokia's phone business.

The job cuts, which were announced Wednesday, follow separate announcements from last year, where Microsoft laid off 18,000 people mere months after the company purchased Nokia's mobile phone arm to the tune of $7.3 billion, with hopes that a focus on low-cost phones, as well as the Microsoft brand name, would make Windows Phone more prominent in a smartphone space dominated by Android and iOS devices.  This write-off is substantially larger than its $6.2 billion write-off in 2012, when Microsoft purchased aQuantive in another blockbuster deal that would have ideally allowed the company to further monetize online ads in a market ruled by Google and Yahoo.

It's interesting to note that both Nokia and aQuantive were purchased under the watch of former CEO Steve Ballmer, who had tried to compete against more agile tech firms, as Microsoft diversified beyond its core business of desktop computers.  But with Satya Nadella having replaced Ballmer last year, Microsoft hasn't focused as much on smartphones and online ads, following the company's lack of success in those spaces.  Instead, Nadella has been more focused on software, the cloud, and other related services.

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Source: Poor Windows Phone Sales Serve as Backdrop as Microsoft Lays Off 7,800 Workers