NEW YORK (AP) – Microsoft will cut 7,800 jobs and take a $7.6 billion impairment charge as it attempts to revive its flagging phone hardware business.
The new cuts come on top of the 18,000 jobs that were trimmed last year and just over a year after the company made an aggressive push into the smartphone market.
The company paid $7.3 billion for Nokia’s phone business in April 2014, seeking to push rapidly into the smartphone sphere as its traditional software business slowed. Microsoft ultimately wanted to build an ecosystem that created customers that were loyal to a slew of its products, much as Apple and Google have done so successfully.
But Microsoft’s Windows Phone system has gained little traction against Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android system.
Now the company says it will write down more than the entire cost of buying Nokia in the fourth quarter and also take a $750 million to $850 million restructuring charge.