Report: Microsoft to delay new buildings, but keep free soda |
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Report: Microsoft to delay new buildings, but keep free soda
Still no word on the possibility of Microsoft layoffs, but a new report details how the company will be scaling back its growth plans as it tries to weather the economic downturn. Microsoft is delaying construction of almost all the new buildings it had planned in Redmond for at least three years, according to the Seattle P-I report this morning, which cites internal Microsoft documents.
However, P-I reporter Joe Tartakoff reports that the company will be retaining many employee perks. The documents reviewed by newspaper detailed the costs of those perks -- including $20 million for free soda and other beverages, $12 million for catering, and $8 million for subsidized food in the next fiscal year.
The decision to maintain those perks could be good news for employees, suggesting that the company isn't yet taking extreme measures to cut costs. The delay in construction makes sense given Steve Ballmer's previous remarks that Microsoft will have significantly slower growth in headcount this fiscal year and probably next.
The report says the company's real estate and facilities group was working under the assumption "that the company's work force would not grow for the next 2 1/2 years. Beyond then, the planners expected annual growth of 3 percent."
Microsoft's massive new Entertainment & Devices Division campus, already well under construction, will continue to be built, the story says. But the company is delaying construction of buildings on properties it has acquired in recent years from Nintendo and Safeco. Microsoft is also planning to shed some of its leases in outlying areas of the city..
See a map of some of the development sites below. Lou Gellos, a Microsoft spokesman, confirmed the gist of the report in an email this morning:
Like any well-managed business, we routinely check our assumptions and planning needs against our assessment of the economic environment. As part of this process, which we undertake quarterly, we look at many scenarios and options. I can confirm that as some leases expire, we will not renew them.
It was our plan all along to move the people in many of those buildings to the new construction that is nearing completion on campus and in Bellevue, and to our Westlake/Terry facility in Seattle. In light of the economic situation, we will also delay some planned construction on the north part of our campus.
(Flickr photo by Mathieu Fiset.)
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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