As part of its general transition from the Windows company to the “cloud-first, mobile-first,” productivity solutions company, Microsoft has engaged in a number of employee layoffs. The most significant involved the massive reduction in staff related to its write-down of the devices business it acquired from Nokia.
Now, the company is engaging in another round of layoffs, this one quite a bit smaller, that’s likely a part of a reduction of 2,850 employees announced in June 2016. One of the employees being cut is likely a familiar figure to anyone’s who’s watched Microsoft’s product demos, as MSPU reports.
At Microsoft’s product event on October 2015, where the Surface Book and Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones were announced, employee Bryan Roper made a name for himself with his dynamic presentation style. In particular, his presentation of the Windows 10 Continuum feature that transforms a smartphone into a “real” PC caught the attention of Microsoft fans.
Roper became known as “Fedora Guy” in Windows 10 circles, and unfortunately, he let everyone know on Twitter today that he was included in the most recent staff cuts.
As one of the Microsoft folks impacted by layoffs today, my heart, ears, and network go out to anyone else impacted #staystrong #newhorizons
— Bryan Roper (@broper00) January 23, 2017
According to Business Insider, this particular round of job cuts is aimed at reducing staff in a number of business units, such as sales, marketing, and human resources, rather than being directed at specific groups as with previous reductions. It also doesn’t mean that Microsoft is contracting its overall employee base, given that the company has over 1,600 job openings currently advertised on its LinkedIn business networking site.
While the cut is significant to the 700 people who will be looking inside or outside of Microsoft for new positions, it’s a far cry from the 7,400 cut in fiscal 2015 and the 18,000 axed in 2014. Such cuts are nothing new to companies like Microsoft with over 100,000 employees, but it’s a shame that such a dynamic personality as Roper was included.
