Microsoft to reorganise, reportedly cutting thousands of jobs

Microsoft will undergo a global reorganisation that will affect its sales and marketing departments. This was made known to employees by company executives yesterday.

According to Reuters, the reorganisation will impact staff members under Microsoft’s CMO Chris Caposella and executive VPs Judson Althoff and Jean-Philippe Courtois. All three have sent messages to their teams explaining how the reshuffling will work.

While the internal memos do not mention any layoffs, media reports have said as many as "thousands" of Microsoft employees could lose their jobs globally as part of the reorganisation.

Reportedly, the cuts are to be announced this week and are part of a bid to offer global sales teams with more technical and industry-specific expertise, so as to attract more customers in areas such as artificial intelligence and Azure cloud services.

The reshuffling marks one of the most significant shifts in Microsoft’s sales force in years and comes a year after Althoff and Courtois took over the leadership roles of Microsoft’s sales and marketing divisions following COO Kevin Turner’s departure last year, according to TechCrunch.

When approached by Human Resources magazine for comment on the rumoured job cuts, a Microsoft spokesperson stated: "Microsoft is implementing changes to better serve our customers and partners."