Microsoft has confirmed that it will cut up to 18,000 jobs, or 14 percent of its workforce, in 2014.
The decision was made since the company is looking to trim its newly acquired Nokia phone business and is hoping to reshape itself into a "cloud-computing and mobile-friendly software company," according to Reuters.
The cuts will be the deepest in the company's 39-year history, and come just five months into Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella's tenure.
Nadella outlined plans for a "leaner" business in a public memo to employees last week, so the announcement shouldn't come as a big surprise.
Last week Nadella rebranded Microsoft as "the productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world."
Approximately 12,500 of the layoffs will come from eliminating overlaps with the Nokia, which Microsoft purchased for $7.2 billion back in April.
Microsoft has yet to confirm how many jobs would come from Nokia and how many from existing operations.
About 25,000 people were added to Microsoft after the Nokia purchase was completed, pushing its headcount to 127,000.
Nokia-related cuts were expected since the purchase was made during the spring.
Microsoft announced when it reached a deal with Nokia that it would cut $600 million per year in costs in 18 months of closing the acquisition.
The first wave of layoffs will affect 1,351 jobs in the Seattle area, according to Reuters.
Microsoft expects to take pretax charges of $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion over the next four quarters to account for the costs of the layoffs.
Former CEO Steve Ballmer cut 5,800 people, or 6 percent of the company's workforce, back in 2009.
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