Layoffs reportedly made at Microsoft Singapore marketing and sales teams

Microsoft Singapore is tipped to lay off its entire consumer marketing team, which amounts to more than 10 staff in its sales and marketing departments.This was according to a report on The Straits Times, which added that according to its sources; which said that only one person has been left on the team to manage Microsoft’s distribution of products to retailers in Singapore. This includes products such as its Surface tablets and Xbox game consoles to name a few. The report also stated that the layoffs were also a result of many not having the right skills to be redeployed, according to sources.While confirming that affected employees were notified two weeks ago, a Microsoft spokesperson did not confirm the number of layoffs to Marketing. In a statement to Marketing, the spokesperson confirmed that steps were taken last week to notify employees that their jobs were "under consideration or that their positions will be eliminated"."Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time-to-time, re-deployment in others," the Microsoft spokesperson added.This follows earlier news this month, which saw Microsoft undergoing a global reshuffle of its sales and marketing departments. According to Reuters, the reorganisation will impact staff members under Microsoft’s CMO Chris Caposella and executive VPs Judson Althoff and Jean-Philippe Courtois.This was in a bid to offer global sales teams with more technical and industry-specific expertise, so as to attract more customers in areas such as artificial intelligence and Azure cloud services. Reportedly, this might result in “thousands” of job cuts worldwide.Most recently, the tech giant appointed Wendy Johnstone as marketing and operations lead for Asia Pacific. She is responsible for spearheading all marketing activities and operations for Microsoft in Singapore and the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other emerging Asian markets such as Bangladesh, Brunei and Myanmar.It also named Andrea Della Mattea as the new vice president of its Asia Pacific operations. Della Mattea is in charge of helping Microsoft’s customers in Asia Pacific to accelerate their own journey of digital transformation.