Cambridge awaits fate in latest Microsoft cuts

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Tuesday morning informed employees that the company will be cutting more jobs — going forward with the second phase of its previously announced plan to eliminate up to 5,000 positions by June 2010.

The company isn’t giving a specific number, but Ballmer’s memo says the latest move means the Redmond computer giant (NASDAQ: MSFt) is “mostly but not all done with the planned 5,000 job eliminations.”

That implies the latest job cuts will affect more than 3,000 people, because the company eliminated 1,400 positions in the first phase of layoffs. Microsoft executives had hoped the economy would hold up enough that they could avoid implementing the full layoff plan.

With about 800 employees in Massachusetts and recently opened research facility in Cambridge, Mass., Microsoft confirmed in January that no Massachusetts employees would be affected in the first round of cuts. However, the company did not say at that time whether the second round of cuts would potentially land in the Bay State.

“This is difficult news to share. Because our success at Microsoft has always been the direct result of the talent, hard work, and commitment of our people, eliminating positions is hard,” Ballmer wrote.

The latest layoffs are roughly equally spread between the U.S. and international markets, a Microsoft representative said. The first round was more concentrated in the United States.

Source: Boston Business Jornal