Layoffs at a local tech company seem like a strange occurrence these days. But Microsoft appears to be pulling the trigger on layoffs affecting a couple hundred marketing folks.

The layoffs are said to to focus on Microsoft’s Central Marketing Group. But marketing groups in other departments also could be affected.

“Microsoft to announce major layoffs today as a result of marketing org restructuring,” tweeted Commercial and Communications Sector Lead Maher Al-Khaiyat. The tweet was reported by ZDNet.

News about the pending layoffs first surfaced in January.

The plan is being led by Chris Capossela, who took over as the company’s chief marketing officer last year, Bloomberg reported, and is aimed at eliminating job duplication and responding better to threats from Apple Inc., Google and Amazon.com Inc.

Redmond-based Concur Technologies, which provides travel and expense management software for businesses, reported first-quarter revenue of $100.4 million, up 25 percent from a year ago.

The company reported a net loss was $0.9 million, or $0.02 per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2012, compared to net income of $3.7 million, or $0.07 per share, a year ago.