Microsoft to Cut 7,800 Jobs Amid Phone Woes

Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday that it would cut up to 7,800 jobs and take a $7.6 billion write-down on its Nokia business as it works to restructure its struggling phone hardware business.

Microsoft said it also would take a restructuring charge of $750 million to $850 million. The company expects the moves to be "substantially complete" by the end of the calendar year.

"We are moving from a strategy to grow a stand-alone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem including our first-party device family," Chief Executive Satya Nadella said in a news release.

Shares of Microsoft edged down 0.3% in premarket trading.

Microsoft had warned recently that it planned to cut costs at its smartphone business and other hardware units. Its struggling Nokia unit was targeted for thousands of job cuts in the biggest layoffs in Microsoft's history, announced last year.

Microsoft's more than $9 billion purchase of Nokia Corp.'s handset business—a deal struck by Chief Executive Satya Nadella's predecessor Steve Ballmer in late 2013—was supposed to make Microsoft a relevant player in smartphones. Instead, the company's Windows smartphones lost market share and bled red ink.

In June, Microsoft reshuffled its executive ranks, the latest sign that it is hitting the reset button on its smartphone hardware business. The moves included the departure of former Nokia chief Stephen Elop.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail]

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