Microsoft announced plans to lay off up to 3,000 employees, mostly in its sales department. The move is part of a larger reorganization effort that will shift focus to sales of Azure, its cloud-services product.

Rather than a cost-cutting measure, a Microsoft representative told CNBC that its plan is to reevaluate how Microsoft handles sales and use employees who are more knowledgeable about specific verticals to sell them in order to encourage sales of larger packages. Roughly 75% of the layoffs are expected to happen outside the United States. Microsoft currently employs over 121,000 people worldwide.