The world’s largest software firm is cutting 5,000 jobs as it faces the worst economic crisis in its 34-year history.
No further cuts are planned, but with no end to the recession in sight, how long can it be before Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has to chop more of Microsoft’s remaining 93,000 or so workers?
Here are some of Ballmer’s comments from a conference call with analysts:
- “We think we have taken the right degree of action in terms of reducing the cost base.”
- “We are taking out somewhere between 5 percent and 15 percent of the cost line… which we think, in this environment relative to the reset in the economy, is probably the right level.”
- “Our model is not for a quick rebound (in PC sales).”
- “If the economy stays down and then builds slowly, we are probably at about the expense base… You can’t tell. The economy could also get a whole lot worse.”
(Photo: Reuters)
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