5000 To Go at Microsoft

When Microsoft start cutting jobs things have to be getting bad. CBS Marketwatch (and other news sites) report the software giant has reported an 11% drop in fiscal second-quarter profit and said it will cut 5,000 jobs as demand weakened for its Windows software.

Microsoft will also cease giving per-share forecasts for the rest of 2009 because of the uncertainty caused by a slumping US and global economy. In the final three months of 2008, meanwhile, Microsoft said earnings fell to $4.17 billion, or 47 cents a share, from $4.71 billion, or 50 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue edged up slightly to $16.63 billion from $16.4 billion from a year ago.

Seeking to reduce its annual operating expenses by $1.5 billion this year, the company says that jobs will be eliminated in research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources, and IT.

Seattle TechReport reports that Microsoft also said that travel budgets and market expenses would be cut and confirmed that most new construction on its Redmond campus was on hold. The company also said that it would reduce the number of vendors and contingent staff.