Microsoft Prepares To Trim Sales Jobs -- WSJ
July 03 2017 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Jay Greene
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (July 3, 2017).
Microsoft Corp. will reorganize its global sales group next
week, laying off workers, as it refines the business to focus on
selling its cloud-computing services, according to a person
familiar with the plans.
The exact number of layoffs is unclear, though they will hit
staff in offices around the world, this person said. Microsoft more
than 121,000 employees at the end of March, the last time the
company disclosed its head count.
Reorganizations at the software giant are something of an annual
ritual, often announced at the close of the company's fiscal year,
which ends Friday.
A year ago, Microsoft revamped its sales organization after
Kevin Turner, the company's chief operating officer, who oversaw
51,000 employees, left the company.
Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella used Mr. Turner's
departure to reorganize the sales group, promoting Judson Althoff
to executive vice president of its world-wide commercial business,
and Jean-Philippe Courtois to executive vice president and head of
global sales, marketing and operations.
The reorganization next week will refine the sales duo's roles,
as well as boost the sales group's focus on cloud-computing
services, according to the person familiar with the plans. The
organization has historically focused on selling packaged software
and services to corporate buyers.
Microsoft has raced to build out its web-based, on-demand
computing business to compete with cloud-infrastructure pioneer
Amazon.com Inc. While Microsoft's Azure technology has emerged as
the top competitor to Amazon Web Services, its 2017 sales will
likely be roughly a quarter of its top rival, according to
estimates from Deutsche Bank.
The Puget Sound Business Journal first reported news of the
reorganization.
Write to Jay Greene at Jay.Greene@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 03, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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