Microsoft Corp is set to unveil the biggest round of job cuts in five years, possibly topping the 5,800 jobs cut in 2009, in an announcement this week, two reliable sources revealed.

The job cut could end up the biggest in the company's history, although the number of jobs that will be trimmed has not been made public pending an official announcement.

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People with knowledge of Microsoft's plan said the job cut could affect engineering, advertising, marketing and the global Xbox team. Some of the cuts, sources said, will also include software testers.

Experts said the job cut is part of Microsoft's efforts to reduce costs, as with other technology firms that have also reduced their workforce in order to keep their costs within manageable levels.

In May, Hewlett-Packard Co Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman announced plans to cut as many as 16,000 jobs.

Microsoft's spokesman Peter Wootton declined to comment but Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said last week that he was preparing to make sweeping changes at Microsoft.

In 2009, Microsoft undertook a companywide restructuring that affected thousand of workers. About 5 percent of the company's workforce, or 5,800 jobs,
at that time were cut.

The latest job cut at Microsoft was in 2012, when hundreds of advertising and marketing jobs were trimmed.

As of June 5, 2014, the Washington-based company had a total of 127,105 employees.

In September, when Microsoft acquired Nokia's mobile phone business, the company vowed to generate up to US$600 million in yearly cost savings and one of the best ways to achieve the goal is to cut jobs where the two companies overlap, sources said.

TagsMicrosoft Job Cut, Microsoft Lay Off