Exclusive: More Microsoft layoffs

[Follow-up, Wednesday morning: Microsoft confirms 800 job cuts]

We're hearing from unofficial but reliable sources tonight that Microsoft is poised to make additional job cuts this week, with the affected employees expected to be notified as early as Wednesday morning.

This latest round of layoffs is expected to be noticeably smaller than the first two -- numbering in the hundreds but totaling less than 1,000 overall. Some portion of the new cuts will serve as the final phase of the company's original plan, announced in January of this year, to cut up to 5,000 jobs over 18 months. However, the new layoffs are expected to take the company beyond the original plan, as well.

Those extra cuts reflect the company's ongoing need to adjust to the realities of the new economy. Reorganizations are common inside the company. In the past, people who lost their jobs as part of those changes were often able to find other positions inside the company.

This time around, there aren't enough of those open jobs available. While Microsoft has continued to hire in some areas, cushioning the effect of the job cuts, the company isn't expanding at nearly the rate that it has in the past. That means there are fewer open positions for employees cut loose by reorganizations, which appears to be the major factor contributing to the additional job cuts.

The layoffs had been rumored for weeks, based in part on reports of widespread reservations of conference rooms on Nov. 4, similar to the way they were reserved before previous layoffs. The information we received tonight confirms those rumors.

We haven't been able to find out which product groups will be affected most by the cuts, but we'll provide updates as we receive more details. Contact us with information at techflashtips@bizjournals.com

Microsoft cut 1,200 jobs in January and made a larger reduction in May. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told employees at that point that the company was "mostly but not all done" with the planned 5,000 layoffs.

The company has been eliminating a series of products and services as part of its budget cutting. Microsoft's latest quarterly earnings beat Wall Street's expectations but still reflected overall declines in revenue and profits.