Microsoft Slashes Another 800 Jobs

REDMOND, Wash. (TheStreet) -- Microsoft(MSFT) has announced its second round of layoffs this year, cutting 800 more jobs Wednesday.

The software maker announced 5,000 job cuts in January when the recession was raging, its first-ever large-scale layoffs.

Despite rumblings of a tech rebound from the likes of Intel(INTC), Microsoft has struck a much less bullish tone.

The latest round of redundancies comes just days after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer warned that IT spending will not fully recover from the recession.

Microsoft's sales dipped 14% year over year in its recent first-quarter results, although the tech bellwether is expecting a boost from its new Windows 7 operating system.

Chris Liddell, the Microsoft CFO, also discussed "signs of stabilization," on the company's third-quarter earnings call. The exec added that, though it's too early to tell, the September quarter "may well have been the bottom of the economic reset."

Microsoft, which is on a mission to challenge Google's(GOOG) Internet dominance, is seen as a key indicator for the health of the tech sector, and is clearly still shaking off the effects of the recession.

The company has already let most of the initial redundancies go 5,000, spokesman Lou Gellos told the Associated Press. The latest round of cuts is being made in Microsoft offices around the world, he added.

Microsoft shares rose 66 cents, or 2.4%, to $28.19, Wednesday, outpacing the broader advance in tech stocks that saw the Nasdaq gain 0.51%.

-- Reported by James Rogers in New York

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