Update: Microsoft pulls back from phone business, announces 7,800 layoffs
Microsoft is scaling down its mobile phone activities, writing off the entire value of the former Nokia smartphone business it bought last year and laying off almost one-third of that business’ staff.
The company will no longer try to build a standalone phone business, but instead plans to build a Windows ecosystem that includes its own devices, CEO Satya Nadella told staff in an email announcing the changes.
Up to 7,800 jobs will be cut, most of them in the phone business. The cuts come in addition to 18,000 layoffs announced last year: Those cuts included around half of the 25,000 staff who joined Microsoft from Nokia.
Microsoft also announced plans to write down the value of its Nokia acquisition, recording an impairment charge of $7.6 billion. It bought the Finnish company’s devices and services business only last year for $7.2 billion.
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