Is there yet another economic crisis looming on the horizon? Perhaps, especially when we hear of Microsoft being tipped to shut down not one, but actually a couple of plants over in China – which would end up with 9,000 job cuts along the way. Ever since Microsoft picked up Nokia some time back, the software giant has taken steps to cut jobs all over the place. Not only that, it does look as though Microsoft might be doing the same thing yet again, except that this time around, it will involve a couple of manufacturing plants over in China. Do bear in mind that this round of layoffs reflect notifications made during the cycle of company-wide reductions of 18,000 employees in 2014, and the timing of actual departure was staggered due to local and legal requirements.
While there has been no official announcement made by Microsoft just yet concerning the job cuts, MarketWatch claims that up to 9,000 people will be affected. These cuts are the direct result of the closure of a couple of manufacturing plants that are located in Beijing and Dongguan, China. An unnamed Microsoft China executive did mention that the closures will occur by the end of March, where all manufacturing will subsequently be moved over to Vietnam.
The slow but sure reduction of the workforce is always a difficult subject to approach, but it is a necessary evil, if you will, especially when you take into consideration how Microsoft picked up close to 25,000 employees from the Nokia deal.