Half a year ago, Microsoft shut down Skype office in London with nearly 400 employees unsure of their next direction. Now, the 120 strong team in Skype’s home of Sweden is being added to the collateral damage toll.
Citing the same reason as the London closure, a Microsoft spokesperson explained that the tech giant is doing all it could to help those affected by the process. Computer Weekly reports:
“Microsoft has made the difficult decision to start consultations with the trade unions to close the Skype office in Stockholm, potentially putting at risk all 120 employees,” a Skype spokesperson said. “This proposal is consistent with our long-term aim to reduce our geographical footprint and co-locate teams to enable better collaboration, improved engineering efficiencies and increase the pace of innovation and quality. We are deeply committed to doing everything we can to help all those impacted through this process. ”
At least in the previous move, most engineers were able to be relocated, but that still left more than half without jobs. If the report is to be believed, it seems there might not be much room left on the Skype team for their colleagues in Sweden. Which is ironic given that Skype was originally born in Sweden, founded by 2003 by Dane Janus Friis and Swede Niklas Zennström in 2003.
