Microsoft is another big name going for job cut downs. It has announced the cut down of 5000 employees, out of which 1,400 are sent home on Thursday.

Rest of the employees will be going in the next 18 months. Spokesman Lou Gellos said, amongst these 1,400, 872 are from Puget Sound, the area where the company has its head quarters. The total numbers of employees with Microsoft are approximated to 96,000, and it is cutting down its 5 percent of workforce .

Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft said, “We are certainly in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime set of economic conditions.” Ballmer said on a teleconference, "The economy resetting to a lower level”. He further added that he had no expectations of a quick economical boost up.

The company had spread shock waves in the market by releasing its below expectations earning statistics. It was also stated by the company that market has gone slow for PC sale because of the cheap netbooks. Microsoft said that due to the highly uncertain market conditions, it will not forecast its revenue and earnings; which are now also expected to be low.

Technology analyst Rob Enderle said, “It’s certainly a historical move”. The company founded in 1975 had scarcely seen such times. It rather had been known for hiring, not firing. Rob is much more concerned about Microsoft’s weak financial standing that result in an inability to forecast its revenue and earnings. He said, “Microsoft is a firm that has historically been able to weather most financial events fairly well.”

It is a hard time for everyone and Microsoft is a part of it.