Microsoft To Cut 5,000 Jobs

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Microsoft Corp.  said Thursday it will cut 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months in the software giant’s first-ever significant round of layoffs as the company reported a worse-than-expected 11% drop in fiscal second-quarter earnings and pulled its view for the year.News about the earnings – which came hours earlier than expected – and the job cuts sent shares of the Redmond, Wash., company near 11-year lows and rattled the technology stock sector.

Microsoft shares recently traded down $1.67, or 8.6%, to $17.71 on volume of 90.1 million compared with average …