In a letter sent out to Microsoft employees this morning, company CEO Satya Nadella confirmed that over the next few months Microsoft will experience an immense restructuring with the main focus on phone business and which results in loss of 7800 positions. Moreover, the company will undergo $7.6 billion impairment charges and an approximate $750 million to $850 million restructuring cost.
In the letter to Microsoft employees, Nadella confirmed that he never takes such changes lightly, and that the company has planned to take the Microsoft from a hardware-focused phone strategy to build vibrant windows eco-system.
iPhone and Android devices have taken large shares of the smartphone market, however, Microsoft’s Windows Phone division and BlackBerry have struggled to compete. Also, in many countries Microsoft share has been reduced to single digits. Nadella’s recommendation of Microsoft’s phone business shifting to a more software-focused angle could point towards services like Cortana – intelligent personal assistant created by Microsoft for Windows Phone 8.1 which results an increase in attention and focus from Microsoft in the coming months.