Microsoft will cut as many as 1,850 jobs and take a new impairment charge as Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella pares back the company’s ambitions in smartphones.
The company will take a $950 million (£650 million) impairment and restructuring charge, including $200 million for severance payments, Microsoft said. About 1,350 jobs will be cut in Finland, the base of the handset business it acquired from Nokia in 2014.
Nadella has already written off most of the $9.5 billion Nokia deal led by his predecessor Steve Ballmer, shifting its Windows phone strategy toward business customers as it struggles to compete with Apple and the Android operating system.
Microsoft already indicated a few days ago that the Lumia 950 will be the last Lumia. And now it is decimating its smartphone division. Is this game over for Microsoft and its Windows Phone Mobile hardware? Maybe. Or it just needs time to get the Universal apps sorted and come back fighting with new mobile hardware that truly innovates and doesn’t need a new app store, as it has Universal apps.
Whatever happens in the future, it doesn’t help all the employees who are about to lose their jobs.
And today I will be receiving a Microsoft Lumia 950 for review. Thanks to Steve Litchfield for the loan.
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I always felt like Windows phone was within touching distance of Apple and Android – they were 95% of the way there.
I dunno, maybe they just needed one killer phone which was marketed properly (and sold possibly at a loss) to gain a proper foothold.
Weren’t a few of their flagship phones carrier exclusive? I’m sure that can’t have helped.
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Yes they were which didn’t help. AT&T had exclusives on some models.
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The 930 and 950xl are both good phones. I’ll carry on using the 950.
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Setup the 950 now. Its decent hardware so far.
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