Microsoft cuts 1850 jobs in mobile unit, takes $950m hit

Microsoft’s mobile division has endured a torrid time in recent years, seeing lay-offs, mergers and spin-offs. Unfortunately, the company has announced another round of job cuts.

The Redmond company plans to “streamline” its smartphone hardware division, affecting up to 1850 jobs in the process, it announced in a press statement.

“As a result, the company will record an impairment and restructuring charge of approximately [US]$950-million, of which approximately [US]$200-million will relate to severance payments,” the company explained.

Read more: Microsoft sells its feature phone unit for $350m, Nokia devices coming

“We are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiation – with enterprises that value security, manageability and our Continuum capability, and consumers who value the same,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in the statement.

“We will continue to innovate across devices and on our cloud services across all mobile platforms.”

The company said it expects 1350 jobs to be affected at Microsoft Mobile Oy in Finland (the former Nokia) as well as up to 500 jobs around the world.

“Employees working for Microsoft Oy, a separate Microsoft sales subsidiary based in Espoo, are not in scope for the planned reductions.”

Read more: Sunrise will die on 31 August, team relocates to Outlook

The company expects these changes to be complete by July 2017.

It’s interesting to note Nadella’s statement as well, pointing to the future of Microsoft’s mobile business. The CEO’s words suggest that, at the very least, Microsoft is paring down its Windows Phone stable in a big way and having even bigger emphasis on productivity than before.

At most, there have been numerous rumours claiming the Lumia line will be killed off in favour of a Surface Phone.

Does this mean Windows Phone is dead like some tech websites have been boldly claiming? Well, Microsoft is certainly cutting back in a big way, the app gap still remains and Windows 10 Mobile hasn’t received nearly as much love from the company as previous iterations, yet it still figures into the company’s “One Windows To Rule Them All” plan…