Microsoft to slash 5,000 jobs

First Microsoft Corp. said it is cutting 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months — more than five per cent of its workforce — starting with 1,400 on Thursday, a first for Microsoft.

The company, which has 94,000 employees including 900 in Canada, ann­oun­ced the cuts as it re­port­ed an 11 per cent profit drop in second-quarter profit.