Microsoft's (MSFT) big move to the cloud hasn't come without some changes inside the tech giant.
In June, Microsoft said it would be laying off employees from its global marketing and sales team as the company increases its emphasis on cloud services. The layoffs are said to result in as many as 3,000 employees losing their jobs.
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CEO Satya Nadella gave a bit more color on the job cuts during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday. The call came after Microsoft soared past analysts' expectations for the quarter on both the top and bottom line. Shares of Microsoft were sliding 0.7% to $73.70 in after-hours trading on Thursday, reversing earlier gains that caused shares to hit an all-time high of $74.30.
Nadella didn't say how many employees would be laid off as a result of the cuts, but reiterated that the move is a part of a broader restructuring at the company.
"The approach we have taken for multiple years now is to transform everything we do -- product creation, how we break down silos that have existed in the past, our marketing approach and then our go to market approach," Nadella told investors on the call. "This transformation is ongoing, but now we've got a very good customer momentum."
Mid-year restructurings have become the standard at Microsoft ever since former CEO Steve Ballmer announced a company-wide restructuring in 2013. The company has laid off employees every year for the past three years, each affecting different businesses.
Another factor driving Microsoft's constant restructurings is that consumer expectations keep changing, Nadella said. He seemingly meant that as demand keeps rising for Microsoft's cloud products, the company will need a bigger sales team to help market those products.
"Ultimately this is driven by the opportunity at hand, which is much different," Nadella said. "Over the years, we've been making changes and now that we have a lot more momentum, we're going onto the next phase."
Microsoft is well on its way to being known as a cloud giant, unlike the old days when it was known as a legacy software company. During the fourth quarter, Microsoft said Azure revenues jumped 97% year-over-year, combined with 11% year-over-year growth in its Intelligent Cloud unit, which includes Azure and its Windows Server product.
