Microsoft cuts 1,400 jobs

Microsoft
Microsoft products are offered for sale at a Best Buy store. Microsoft Corp., reacting to sagging computer sales, said it was cutting 5,000 jobs, the first mass layoffs in the company's history.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Microsoft Thursday announced 5,000 jobs will be eliminated in the next 18 months.

1,400 Microsoft workers were laid off Thursday. Officials say a very small percentage of the cuts were at the Microsoft Fargo campus.

Microsoft has about 1,500 employees in Fargo.

Fargo campus site manager Don Morton will not say how many workers are affected in Fargo, but he said the company needs to trim expenses.

"We just have to re-prioritize things and re-focus on some different things. Some projects might get dropped and new projects might get picked up just depending on the business environment. But it's all part of doing business," Morton said.

Microsoft Fargo is focused on software for businesses, and Morton said while business has slowed, sales are still strong.

A planned $70 million expansion of the Fargo campus is continuing and should be completed this summer.

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