Thousands of employees will be laid off, with the cuts falling largely on Microsoft’s sales force. The vast majority of layoffs will hit employees located outside the United States, although some will also be in Redmond. 
 
 Microsoft on Thursday started the process of laying off thousands of employees, cuts that fall largely on the technology giant’s sales force. 
 
 The layoffs, anticipated widely since word of the plans leaked last week, come as Microsoft reconfigures its massive sales organization to focus on its cloud-computing products, and particularly sales to specific industries. 
 
 The cuts are expected to total thousands of workers, the company said, without giving specifics. The vast majority of the affected employees are located outside the United States. 
 
 Layoffs will also fall on some groups that had supported sales staff, including Microsoft’s information-technology department, finance and the Corporate, External and Legal Affairs department, according to a person briefed on the cuts. Some of those to be laid off work at Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters. 
 
 Reorganizations, often including layoffs, are an annual occurrence as Microsoft’s fiscal calendar flips to a new year at the beginning of July. 
 
 Microsoft started its new fiscal year on Monday with a 1,500-word memo that business sales chief Judson Althoff sent to Microsoft’s sales and marketing employees. 
 
 Layoffs weren’t mentioned, but the memo — also signed by global-sales subsidiary chief Jean-Philippe Courtois and chief marketing officer Chris Capossela — said sales employees will be required to “operate in new ways.” 
 
 The email detailed a range of changes to the organization of Microsoft’s sales groups aimed at simplifying the company’s sales teams. Before Thursday’s cuts, about 50,000 — or 40 percent — of Microsoft’s roughly 121,500 employees worked in sales. 
 
 That sales group was cobbled together during the decade in which Microsoft grew into a dominant player in business software by selling out-of-the-box software licenses, and was led by former longtime Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner, who left the company last year. 
 
 As the company in recent years has pushed to sell more of its on-demand computing power, data storage and software services, Microsoft has tried to boost the technical expertise of its sales staff as it cut roles seen as redundant or no longer necessary. That has led to some hiring even as Microsoft shed jobs. 
 
 Althoff in an interview last year said that the company had tacked on over the course of a year about 1,000 sales employees with expertise in “cloud solutions,” or a mix of technical and sales expertise to help customers make use of on-demand software. 
 
 At the same time, Microsoft cut at least 900 sales jobs as part of the 2,850 layoffs the company targeted for the just-completed fiscal year. 
 
 The latest layoffs are “enough to shock the system,” said Ed Anderson, an analyst and former Microsoft employee who tracks the company with Gartner. 
 
 “The kind of sales force that they need is, instead of showing up to renew the contract, a sales force that is thinking more strategically” about how customers might use Microsoft tools, he said. 

 Microsoft announced a major reorganization on Wednesday that will include thousands of layoffs, largely in sales. 
 
 
 
 The job cuts amount to less than 10 percent of the company's total sales force, and about 75 percent of them will be outside the U.S., the company said. 
 
 Reports from last week suggested this was going to happen and that Microsoft was going to specifically focus on how it sells its cloud-services product, Azure. 
 
 Microsoft's cloud business has been booming over recent quarters — Microsoft noted Azure sales growth of 93 percent last quarter. While Amazon has become a bigger competitor in the space, Microsoft's restructuring is to pivot to software as a service, platform as a service and infrastructure. 
 
 "Microsoft is implementing changes to better serve our customers and partners," a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC. "Today, we are taking steps to notify some employees that their jobs are 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." 
 
 Microsoft said its goal isn't to cut costs and the move is instead a change in how Microsoft handles sales. It said its plan is to use employees who are more knowledgeable about specific verticals so they can sell bigger packages. 
 
 Microsoft has 71,000 employees in the U.S. and 121,000 employees around the globe, suggesting that these cuts are relatively small compared to the size of its entire workforce. 
 
 — CNBC's Jon Fortt contributed to this report. 

 Microsoft confirmed a series of rumored job cuts Thursday, mostly in sales, as part of a big reorganization. 
 
 Microsoft didn’t give specifics numbers, but the company is cutting thousands of jobs. CNBC reported the layoffs represent approximately 10 percent of Microsoft’s total salesforce. Microsoft said a significant majority of jobs expected to be eliminated are outside the U.S. 
 
 Microsoft issued the following statement about the layoffs: 
 
 Microsoft is implementing changes to better serve our customers and partners. Today, we are taking steps to notify some employees that their jobs are 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. 
 
 Microsoft added that while it is cutting jobs in some areas, it is expanding in others. 
 
 Microsoft stock is down slightly Thursday morning following news of the layoffs. 
 
 Widespread rumors of layoffs in the thousands started percolating last week. That was followed by an internal memo to employees Monday detailing a shift in Microsoft’s consumer and commercial businesses and how it sells cloud services. 
 
 These changes point to a goal of focusing more intently on Microsoft’s growing cloud computing business. Microsoft’s commercial cloud run rate hit $15.2 billion during the March quarter, up from $14 billion in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, revenue in the company’s intelligent cloud group grew by 93 percent to $6.8 billion in the quarter. 
 
 Employees were reportedly speculating about potential layoffs and transfers to new positions, posting on the anonymous chat app Blind that conference rooms across the Redmond campus were booked Thursday, according to Business Insider. Many employees were set for 15-minute meetings with managers, according to the report. Approximately 25,000 Microsoft workers use the anonymous chat app. 
 
 Microsoft’s fiscal year ended on June 30, and big changes and layoff announcements have traditionally come around this time, tied to the company’s move into a new fiscal year, which started on July 1. 
 
 Last July, Microsoft cut 2,850 people from its smartphone and sales teams. For the entirety of fiscal year 2016, Microsoft cut 7,400 employees. 
 
 As of March 31, Microsoft employed 121,567 worldwide, including 45,535 in Washington state. 
 
 Editor’s note: This story has been changed to reflect the number of jobs cut.
– Layoffs potentially numbering in the thousands started Thursday at Microsoft, CNBC reports. The company states the layoffs aren't motivated by a desire to cut costs but rather to address sales at the company, specifically in regards to its cloud-computing products. Sales of Azure, Microsoft's cloud-services product, grew 93% last quarter. Approximately 3,000 people could be laid off as part of the reorganization, largely in sales. Three-quarters of the layoffs are expected to hit workers outside the US, though the Seattle Times reports some layoffs will affect workers at Microsoft headquarters in Washington state. While the layoffs have been rumored since last week, Microsoft stock dropped slightly Thursday when they became a reality, GeekWire reports. "Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis," a Microsoft spokesperson says. "This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time to time, redeployment in others." Layoffs at Microsoft aren't unusual at this time of year, what with the company's fiscal year ending June 30. Last July, Microsoft laid off nearly 3,000 people from its smartphone and sales teams.