Slashdot Mirror


Microsoft Will Close Its Skype Office in London, Nearly 400 Jobs To Be Impacted (techcrunch.com)

Microsoft is closing Skype's office in the UK, according to the Financial Times. The move is likely to affect jobs of nearly 400 people at the London HQ. Commenting on the report, Microsoft said it will "unify some engineering positions," but that it "will be entering into a consultation process to help those affected by the redundancies." From a TechCrunch report: The London office is a key part of Skype's history, since it was the primary engineering site and headquarters of the company before Microsoft acquired it, and it also survived Skype's strange interlude under the ownership of eBay before it was acquired by the big M. While the move is no doubt a blow to London's tech scene, some former insiders told the FT that it's also not a surprise to see it go, largely because a steady stream of executive departures over the last few years have foretold a shift in the locus of power at the company. Post-acquisition, Microsoft has also done a lot of product work on Skype, with plenty of integration with Office 365 and a number of feature introductions that bring it closer in line with Slack.

29 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Consultation process by Simon+Rowe · · Score: 4, Informative

    it "will be entering into a consultation process to help those affected by the redundancies."

    That's because they have to by law. https://www.gov.uk/redundant-your-rights/consultation

  2. Typical Microsoft acquisition result by HBI · · Score: 2

    Can anyone think of a single MS purchase where the employees did well out of the deal, leaving out the original owner?

    "Microsoft is buying us" should convince anyone employed by the firm to update their resume.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    1. Re:Typical Microsoft acquisition result by El+Cubano · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Can anyone think of a single MS purchase where the employees did well out of the deal, leaving out the original owner?

      Not just MS. I know people who were at small or very small firms that were either directly or indirectly acquired by very large firms (e.g., IBM, HP, General Dynamics, etc.). Not a single one of those friends or acquaintances remained with new large parent company past a year or two. In every instance they mentioned how at first things seemed fine, be eventually the parent wanted to fully assimilate the new acquisition, which meant a loss of the old company culture, structure, etc. Invariably, there were pay cuts, removal of perks, reorganizations, office closures, relocations, and all manner of other changes that would definitely challenge the morale of those who liked the environment of the smaller company.

      As far as I can tell this seems to be a potential problem when any large and established company acquires a significantly smaller and/or less established company.

    2. Re:Typical Microsoft acquisition result by idji · · Score: 1

      when they acquired Excel.

    3. Re:Typical Microsoft acquisition result by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Big companies don't really buy small companies -- they buy their IP.

    4. Re:Typical Microsoft acquisition result by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

      Indeed. If the company that you work for is a small one, and it is acquired by a large one, you will have reason to celebrate only if you have a significant stake in the small company. Otherwise, you are pretty much screwed. As somebody who is likely to be in that situation in a couple of years time, chances are that, if and when that happens, I will be laid off in short order, but with a nice payoff that might allow me to retire with dignity, if not with opulence.

    5. Re:Typical Microsoft acquisition result by gtall · · Score: 1

      Yeah, well, Ballmer probably did his Monkey Dance for them...that's knock anyone off their feed.

    6. Re:Typical Microsoft acquisition result by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      And Satan Nutella or whatever the fuck his name is gets another raise. Too bad about those people losing their jobs and all, but hey, they were just lowly employees anyway. They can sleep under one of the dumpsters behind the Microsoft office.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    7. Re:Typical Microsoft acquisition result by HBI · · Score: 1

      I don't think we've given that acquisition enough time to know for sure.

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    8. Re:Typical Microsoft acquisition result by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      Heh. And I just turned down an offer from Skype here in Stockholm...

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  3. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Compared to Europe, the US is basically an offshore tax haven.

    In fact this is how the US started: by people not wanting to pay taxes. See boston tea party.

  4. Re:Makes sense by r1348 · · Score: 1

    Enjoy your food stamps.

  5. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Wrong. The US didn't want to pay taxes without representation. Their tax dollars were going overseas and staying there.

  6. Re: Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The old pensioners have known the EU for what it is and even helped built it. As for today's "workers"... They never had a snowball's chance in the Sun anyway.

  7. Microsoft by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    The firing company. Last one out turn off the light. This means you, Satya.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  8. Re:Makes sense by Plammox · · Score: 1

    unnecessary social programs

    Others would use the term "a civilised society with consideration for the not so well-off".

  9. A better question is by melted · · Score: 1, Insightful

    How the fuck do you run your organization so badly, that you get to the point where you have 400 "redundant" people in the first place? And how the fuck something like Skype is using all those people? It's a fucking VOIP app, it's not rocket science. I'd expect the _total_ size of the org to be smaller than that.

    1. Re:A better question is by tomhath · · Score: 2

      Well, it's an app with something over 300 million active users, so I expect there's more to it than tossing a VoIP app out on github. But obviously you know more about how the company should be run than the company itself.

      As far as the 400 "redundant" people, than just means they're closing the office and moving the work elsewhere, not that 400 people aren't needed somewhere.

    2. Re:A better question is by sandbagger · · Score: 2

      They're doing business in a few dozen countries. That means dealing with communications regulatory and tax collection agencies in all those places. With hundreds of millions of users, keeping all of those plates spinning does take a certain amount of work.

      --
      ---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
    3. Re:A better question is by gtall · · Score: 1

      In that case, we should be filthy in VOIP companies and apps. Oh, we aren't. I guess it is time for you to start one since you seem to have a clear understanding of what's involved.

    4. Re:A better question is by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Look around.

      We are shitty with VOIP companies, none of them interoperate. Skype was among the worst, but somehow got 'critical mass'. It might be losing it.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  10. Small companies don't have the resources by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    to outsource to India or obtain cheap labor through work visas. That's why you see this pattern repeated so much. It's also why small business is the only real source of (net) job growth in most modern economies. You just can't compete with the likes of India, China and the Philippians. It's useless to even try...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  11. Re: Makes sense by Malc · · Score: 1

    Actually corporate and payroll taxes in the UK are lower than the US, and probably the salaries are too. If the new government doesn't change plans then corp tax in the UK is heading for 15%, which is a lot less than the US' 35% + local rate

  12. Re:Makes sense by nnet · · Score: 1

    and crime will be committed by trailer park white trash meth heads, and meth head kids of middle class and the one percenters. bravo.

  13. Which makes for redundancy by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

    MS already has (probably better placed) people to deal with regulatory/tax collection agencies than Skype had. Or they would have moved those people off Skype to a more core function.

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
  14. Gotta keep the ball rolling somehow... by Z80a · · Score: 1

    It's a tradition to make this software worse and worse and worse on every version, so it's only natural that they have to cripple the development team.

  15. Re:slashdot by Jzanu · · Score: 1

    I've used this site longer than 99.9% of the idiots on here, and it has changed immensely under the new management - but that change started even before Rob Malda stepped out. Slashdot started to die around 2004 roughly when the libertarian crowd concentrated and drowned out all of the comprehensive analysis with “cite” requests designed to stop discussion, and that decline was given nitro fuel by the influx of uneducated kids who are misogynists due to psychological problems and total lack of contact with women. Since these groups are dominant ~and~ the stories themselves are barely more than clickbait, it is absolutely fair to say Slashdot is not only sick but it is dead and buried in the graveyard. The point of Slashdot was always the social impact of technology even when reporting on the “new” Linux Kernel 2.4. the better part was mixed installation tricks and experience-driven talk about how it might replace windows someday. That character is now gone and replaced with a cross of Gizmodo and the tabloid Gawker itself. RIP Slashdot, you've been dead for years but all original users still miss what you were!

  16. Editorial standards by Panoptes · · Score: 1

    'jobs to be impacted'

    Slashdot's use of English gets worse by the day. Are there no proofreaders available?

  17. OT Re:slashdot by gilgongo · · Score: 1

    "all original users still miss what you were!"

    Having one ID digit less than you, I have added the OT to the subject simply out of netiquette nostalgia.

    --
    "And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"