Microsoft plans major job cuts: report

Latest cuts in addition to the 18,000 jobs that Microsoft had said it will cut a year ago

Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software company, plans to announce a new round of layoffs as early as Wednesday as it tries to cut costs further, the New York Times reported.

The latest job cuts are in addition to the 18,000 jobs Microsoft said it planned to cut a year ago, the newspaper said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The layoffs are expected to affect employees at the hardware group and other parts of the company, including the smartphone business that Microsoft acquired from Nokia last year, the newspaper said.

Reuters could not immediately reach Microsoft for comment outside regular US business hours.

Last July, Microsoft kicked off one of the largest layoffs in tech history, saying it would slash up to 18,000 jobs, or 14% of its workforce, as it tries to become a cloud-computing and mobile-friendly software company.

In June, Microsoft said Stephen Elop, the former top boss at phone-maker Nokia, and three other high-level executives were leaving the company.

Microsoft is set to launch Windows 10 on July 29, the first operating system designed to run across PCs, tablets and phones.