Microsoft cuts another 2,850 jobs as phone business struggles

Microsoft said it would axe a further 2,850 jobs over the next 12 months, bringing the total cuts in that period to 4,700.

The latest round of redundancies, according to ZDNet, will hit Microsoft's struggling smartphone business, which was acquired from Nokia in 2014 for approximately US$7.9 billion.

Microsoft had already eliminated 7,400 positions from the phone hardware business in the 2016 financial year.

The company said it would cut a further 1,850 jobs in May, along with writing off US$950 million from the smartphone business. The new job cuts started on 1 July, and will continue until the end of financial year 2017.

Chief executive Satya Nadella, who took the top job at Microsoft two months before the Nokia acquisition was finalised, has attempted to streamline the smartphone business. After the May job cuts, Nadella reinforced Microsoft's focus on cloud and services in a statement.

“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 Nadella.

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

Microsoft sold its entry-level feature phone business to FIH Mobile Ltd and HMD Global Oy for US$350 million in May.

Microsoft employed around 114,000 full-time staff as of 30 June.