NEWS WRAP: Microsoft confirms up to 18,000 jobs will go in ‘realignment’ of workforce

Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella has confirmed the company will shed up to 18,000 jobs in the next year.

He made the announcement in an email to employees on the subject of evolving the company’s organisation and culture.

“The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce,” he says.

“With this in mind, we will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year.”

He adds the vast majority of employees whose jobs will be lost will be notified over the next six months.

“We will offer severance to all employees impacted by these changes, as well as job transition help in many locations, and everyone can expect to be treated with the respect they deserve for their contributions to this company.”

Google’s top business executive leaves

The company’s long-time sales boss Nikesh Arora is leaving the company to take up a position with SoftBank.

Google announced the move along with its second quarter earnings, which were below Wall Street expectations.

It generated earnings of $6.08 per share on revenue of $12.7 billion, and analysts were looking for something more like $6.25 and $13 billion respectively.

Facebook tests ‘buy button’

The social media giant is trialling a buy button, which lets its users pay for e-commerce purchases without leaving its site or app.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 161.39 to 16,976.81. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US94 cents.