Microsoft confirms more than 2,000 job cuts

Still almost 3,000 more cuts to make before the year ends

Microsoft has confirmed it spent yesterday cutting an extra 2,100 jobs from its global organisation.

In the summer, the software giant announced 18,000 jobs were set for the chop, mainly from its newly acquired Nokia arm. In July it made its first round of eliminations, waving off 13,000 staff, and today it confirmed 2,100 more employees were told they were going last night. This suggests the firm has plans to get rid of almost another 3,000 staff in the coming months.

In a statement sent to CRN, Microsoft said the staff reductions in the latest round have been "spread across many business units and many different countries", but did not go into specifics as to where it is swinging the axe.

Some US reports claim Microsoft is breaking up its Trustworthy Computing Group (TCG) as part of the latest round of cuts. The TCG is tasked with addressing a range of cybersecurity and privacy issues and has been talked up by the vendor recently in the wake of the NSA spying scandal.

Reports suggest some positions within the division are being eliminated and that the TCG is being folded into other areas of the business to ensure tighter integration with engineering teams.

Microsoft did not comment on the claims but in a statement said: "We will continue to go through this process in the most thoughtful manner possible, with the deepest respect for affected individuals and recognition of their service to the company. We will offer severance to all affected employees."