Microsoft to cut 18,000 jobs this year as it chops Nokia

Reuters: Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella kicked off one of the largest layoffs in tech history on Thursday, hoping to reshape the aging PC industry titan into a nimbler rival to Apple and Google, and jolt a culture at the company that is used to protecting its existing Windows and Office franchises.
Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it will slash up to 18,000 jobs, or 14% of its workforce, over the next 12 months as it almost halves the size of its newly acquired Nokia phone business and tries to become a cloud-computing and mobile-friendly software company.
The larger-than-expected cuts are the deepest in the software giant’s 39-year history and come five months into Nadella’s tenure.Beyond the Nokia reductions, Nadella gave few clues about where the ax will fall or what areas will receive more funding.

One source briefed on the cuts said a major victim would be the 175-strong Xbox Entertainment Studios unit, which will start to wind down efforts to create original content. But it will continue to work on its highest-profile project, a filmed version of the blockbuster ‘Halo’ videogame.
Nadella said he will answer questions from employees at a town hall meeting at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, on Friday and flesh out his plans publicly after Microsoft’s quarterly earnings report on July 22.
“We will simplify the way we work to drive greater accountability, become more agile and move faster,” Nadella wrote to employees in a memo made public early Thursday. “We plan to have fewer layers of management, both top down and sideways, to accelerate the flow of information and decision making.”
The size of the cuts were welcomed by Wall Street, which was critical of the Nokia acquisition and viewed Microsoft as bloated under previous CEO Steve Ballmer, topping 127,000 in staff after absorbing Nokia earlier this year.

“This is about double what the Street was expecting,” said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. “Nadella is clearing the decks for the new fiscal year. He is cleaning up part of the mess that Ballmer left.”
Microsoft shares rose 1.8% to $ 44.88 on Nasdaq, reaching their highest since the technology stock boom of 2000.

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Daily as You Roll Out of Bed

The morning is a powerful time to frame your mindset for the day ahead.


One of the best lifestyle practices you can get into as an entrepreneur is to start the day with some bold and optimistic questions to set the tone for how you’re going to approach what comes next. This helps you to be prepared for opportunities throughout the day by keeping your eyes open to possibility when there are inevitable challenges.


Here are three questions you should ask yourself every morning as soon as you wake up to help you be a rock star entrepreneur.


1. Who can I help today? There’s a famous Plato quote -- “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” It’s easy to wake up and have your very first thoughts be, “I didn’t get enough sleep” or “I’m so busy … how will I get it all done?”


While those thoughts are perfectly normal, they’re not necessarily inspiring. Everyone has something to offer others. When you start your day asking how you can be of service, it is tantamount to you saying, “I’ve got something to offer. I’ve got something to give.”


That’s a more empowering place to come from in life: offering value. Spend a few minutes brainstorming ideas of ways you can help people and watch throughout the day as new opportunities to help will undoubtedly spring up.


2. What can I do better today? This can be as broad or specific as you want, but the point is to conceptualize what positive actions you can take today to be just a little bit better than the day before.


Did you slack off and skip the gym when you know you really needed to go? How can you take a positive step to ensure that the gym happens today? Lose your temper with someone on the staff and you wish you would’ve handled better? Brainstorm how you can approach that person today with a better understanding, and if necessary, an apology for your bad behavior.

Luxury hotel chain Ritz-Carlton ties up with Krrish

Luxury hotel chain Ritz-Carlton has signed a management agreement with Indian real estate company Krrish on a $ 650 million hotel project in Sri Lanka’s capital, a top official said yesterday.
Titled ‘Krrish Square,’ the project will have four high-rise ultra-luxurious towers and will be envisaged as a vertical city. Three of them will house high-end residential apartments.
The fourth tower will be the tallest tower with 85 levels complete with a high-end retail complex, commercial office outlets and a seven-star hotel, which will be managed by Ritz Carlton. “Krrish has informed us that they have tied up with Ritz-Carlton and we believe it will be to manage their hotel,” Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene told reporters.
However, the project has been dogged with controversy after the company repeatedly delayed lease payments to the Government, prompting the Investment Promotion Ministry to impose a 12% tax and threaten to end the contract.

The agreement for the Krrish project was initially signed in August 2012 with the money to be paid in full by January 2013. Yet a final payment of Rs. 690 million ($ 5.3 million) is still pending, with the company assuring it will be handed over to the Government on 15 July.
“If the payment is not made, then we will cancel the contract in September,” the Minister added.
Nonetheless, he denied the delay of the project, which was initially expected to open in 2016, being a disadvantage to the Government, which owns the land.
“We have made a car park into a money spinner,” he joked, insisting the Government had not made losses in the deal.
Krrish is hoping to cash in on Sri Lanka’s lucrative tourism industry, which has boomed since the end of the three-decade war in 2009.
The Investment Promotion Ministry estimates 8,000 rooms will be added to the existing 24,000 by end 2015, creating sufficient accommodation for the 2.5 million tourists targeted by the Government in 2016.
A second luxury hotel project by Hong Kong company Shangri-la in the southern Sri Lankan town is “70% complete” Yapa noted and likely to begin operations in early 2015.
In the first six months of this year, a total of 727,353 tourists arrived in the island, marking a 24.6% increase from the 583,573 who visited during the corresponding period in 2013.
Most of the tourist arrivals were from Western Europe, with 223,810 tourists visiting in the first six months of this year recording a 17% increase over corresponding 2013 figures, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) said in its latest report on Wednesday.