Satya Nadella

• Google
• Apple
• Microsoft
• Larry Page
• ice bucket challenge

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin latest high-profile tech players in ice bucket challenge

Ben Lovejoy Aug 15 2014 - 4:05 pm PT

0 Comments

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9QYepYfGxo]

Whoever came up with the idea of the ice bucket challenge to raise awareness of the fatal disease ALS is a genius. Since former Boston College baseball player Pete Frates raised its profile, we’ve seen a succession of public figures accept the challenge to have a bucket of ice-cold water poured over them – many of them in the tech sector.

When Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella challenged Larry Page, it seems Page thought Brin should join in too – thanks to David F Watson for the video. Page appears not to have noticed a large piece of ice lodged in the collar of his t-shirt afterwards, adding weight to our theory that he’s actually a robot from the future.

With Apple CEO Tim Cook also having participated, that’s the head honchos at all three main smartphone platforms united in the awareness campaign.

ALS is short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease that results in loss of muscle control and which is fatal in two to five years. The ALS Association is raising money to try to find a cure, and so far the ice bucket challenge seems to be helping, donations so far more than six times what the charity raised in the same period last year. If you’d like to donate, you can do so here.

The Verge has collected together a whole bunch of ice bucket challenge videos and photos on one page.

• Android
• Microsoft
• Nokia
• Windows
• Windows Phone

12,500 of Microsoft’s 18k job losses will be in Nokia Devices and Services division; will abandon Android X

Ben Lovejoy Jul 17 2014 - 5:42 am PT

0 Comments

If Nokia staff were hoping that the acquisition of the business by Microsoft would safeguard their jobs, their hopes were dashed today in a letter from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Nadella said that a major downsizing resulting in 18,000 lost jobs would focus on the Nokia Devices and Services division, where 12,500 jobs will go, most within six months.

The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. With this in mind, we will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year. Of that total, our work toward synergies and strategic alignment on Nokia Devices and Services is expected to account for about 12,500 jobs, comprising both professional and factory workers. We are moving now to start reducing the first 13,000 positions, and the vast majority of employees whose jobs will be eliminated will be notified over the next six months.

The letter says that Microsoft will tackle the redundancies “in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible.” All employees losing their jobs will be offered severance pay, with job-transition help “in many locations.”
Expand
Expanding
Close