they say the cuts are expeted to be announced around January 15th.

gaming devision is also not safe from this according to the source.

http://oxcgn.com/2008/12/22/microsoft-facing-significant-job-losses/

"

Today some interesting rumours have surfaced regarding significant lay-offs and cutbacks at Microsoft. If the rumours are to be believed, Microsoft will be facing considerable reductions in staff across the board. These would encompass the bottom performers (10% of the entire Microsoft divisions) resulting in 5,000 to 10,000 job losses.

It still isn’t clear where the majority of staff reductions will come from but cuts to the games division are also likely. How this will affect Microsoft’s stance in the gaming industry is unclear but come January 15th 2009 we will find out the extent of these cutbacks.

"

you can go to source and read where the rumor is coming from(MS employees apearently are reporting this )

hopefully economy will get better in 2010.

That's pretty severe for what are likely preemptive cuts.

I say this because I haven't seen any indications that Microsoft is suffering significantly due to the recession. Their profit margins are huge and currency movements are playing in their favor (weakening dollar).

This is just a rumours, but I think every company in the world will be laying people off in the next few months. That is what happens in a downturn. But we will see.

@Nj5

i know with the dollar this weak they should be in heaven.

That was a little shock to myself as well. but i guess no company is immune from this economical mess we are in right now.

did you read the Panasonic article?

sony, EA, THQ, now microsoft? this gunna get worse before it gets better

Indeed. I have to start working harder :P

What Panasonic article are you talking about? The last thing I heard from them is they're buying Sanyo for $9 billion.

@nj5
it was before that ,,,they slashed their profit forecast by around 90%

Oh, that one I did. Japanese exporters are getting slaughtered left and right (especially the ones exporting luxury items). I doubt Microsoft's profit will be very affected though.

gaming division might due to the recent price cut but not MS in general.

dollar will help them