MOSCOW, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - US software giant Microsoft announced Thursday it plans to lay off 18,000 people globally as part of its efficiency upgrade in what will be the largest job cut in the company's 39-year history.
"We will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in the statement.
The majority of layoffs - 12,500 - are expected to occur within Nokia Devices and Services, which Microsoft bought for $7.2 billion from Finland's Nokia in April. Microsoft plans to shift select products running on the Nokia X platform, to the Lumia line, which runs on Windows Phone.
"Our workforce reductions are mainly driven by two outcomes: work simplification as well as Nokia Devices and Services integration synergies and strategic alignment," Nadella said.
The modernization includes decreasing the "layers of management, both top-down and sideways," and flattening organizations to create "more productive, impactful teams across Microsoft."
The job cuts represent 14 percent of the total Microsoft workforce of 127,000 people, 25,000 of whom entered the company with Nokia.
