http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2009/1104/microsoft-layoffs-hit-again

Microsoft layoffs pile up, even after the company posted strong earnings

Just two weeks ago, the company's fortunes seemed hopeful. Microsoft said that its quarterly earnings beat analysts' expectations and its newest operating system, Windows 7, sprinted out of the gate. This drove up stock prices and lead to thoughts that maybe the worst was behind them.

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1st of all I wanna say I am pro-Microsoft.  I love my XBOX 360 and Windows 7 is better than sex, BUT.............

SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!??????????  HOW MUCH F***ING MONEY DO YOU NEED MICROSOFT????!!

People need jobs more than ever, and you made 6.7 BILLION NET PROFIT in 3 months and you are still letting people go.

Screw YOU Willy Gates!!!!

Well, maybe some divisions of Microsoft just weren't profitable and they needed to layoff some people off. It happens all the time. I know from personal experience.

steve balmer owns most of Microsoft so he layed everybody off its not gates fault, balmer is probably one of the weirdest guys you'll see running a company so seeing something like this has balmer written all over it

Just because you make money does not mean that every employee is holding their weight. The reason they made so much is because of layoffs and labor re-allocations.

The article doesn't say where they were cut from.

Perhaps Windows Mobile?

You all make excellent points.

All I'm saying is that I wish Microsoft would hire more people with the profit they make.

Look what INTEL did last year in the middle of the worst recession since the great depression.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29120782

Anyone who has covered Intel during its 41-year history knows the company's strategy during tough economic times: You gotta spend money to make money, and you can't grow the business without investing in its future. Otellini used the podium at the Economic Forum in Washington, DC this morning to unveil a $7 billion manufacturing initiative over the next two years to add capacity and upgrade existing wafer fabrication plants in Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon, with plans to add 7,000 high-wage jobs in the process.

It's the largest plan of its kind in Intel's history

Windows Seven is an incredible OS! This damn thing deserves to sell well.

6 billions in 3 months? Woow.... I hope they will buy some first party studios using this money.

And no, it's not better than sex.

Wal-Mart is doing the same thing. Look at Sam's club and upper management at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Companys profit stupid amounts yet cut people to get even more profit. Pure greedy as usual, though somewhat understandable if they don't gain money off these people. Still, for job growth this does nothing.

Pretty much.

What we're hopefully looking at here is Microsoft cutting some of the fat out of its staff.

Often the low performing employees drag down everyone around them from my experience. A bad attitude and/or slacking off can make the people who do the work feel very sour. It makes sense to get rid of the worst to clean out the work force from time to time, even in good economic times. You'll find a lot of companies do this in relation to recessions, they often find they have the same productivity even after the people they fired left the building.