United States-based technology giant Microsoft is set to cut thousands of jobs if media reports are anything to go by.
BusinessTech Africa understands that Microsoft workers in the United Kingdom could find themselves without jobs in the near future.
Established by American businessman and author, Bill Gates, the company specialises in software for computers, laptops, and gaming devices.
Per the latest media reports, it is reportedly set to cut 5% of its workforce in the UK, leaving about 11 000 unemployed.
“’Sky News has learned that the US software giant could announce plans to cull a significant number of posts around the world within a matter of days,” Sky News reports.
As things stand, Microsoft has more than 220 000 people on its payroll and this number includes 6 000 in the UK, is said to be considering cutting roughly 5% of its workforce, which if accurate would equate to about 11 000 jobs.
That figure could not be verified on Tuesday evening, and one analyst suggested that Wall Street would be surprised if the figure was not higher than that.
At the same time, Google’s parent company Alphabet is ‘preparing’ to lay off 10 000 employees per a report by Independent Media Online.
Further reports suggest that Microsoft – which also issued redundancies in October 2022 – “plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions” and that “cuts will be significantly larger than other rounds in the past year.”
In a similar post, BusinessTech Africa reported that one of the world’s biggest tobacco producers, British American Tobacco has embarked on a retrenchment process.
BTA has gathered that BAT has launched a Section 189 retrenchment process which could impact 200 jobs at the company.
The tobacco maker which boasts cigarette brands such as Camel and Marlboro, is the fourth largest company in South Africa when measured by market capitalisation, as it currently sits at R1.58 trillion.
The group announced it has started a consultative process with staff, quoting a “restructuring of the business” as the reason.
Media reports in the country suggest that BAT said that it has had to restructure due to further losses in cigarette volumes in South Africa, which it blames on the rise of the illicit market in the country – exacerbated by the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown and ban on cigarette sales in the country.
