As reported earlier in the week, Microsoft will be laying off thousands of jobs, in total 105 of its workforce. Reports from last week suggested this was going to happen and that Microsoft was going to specifically focus on how it sells its cloud-services product, Azure.

Microsoft said its goal isn't to cut costs and the move is instead a change in how Microsoft handles sales. It said its plan is to use employees who are more knowledgeable about specific verticals so they can sell bigger packages.

Microsoft has 71,000 employees in the U.S. and 121,000 employees around the globe, suggesting that these cuts are relatively small compared to the size of its entire workforce. The job cuts amount to less than 10 percent of the company's total sales force, and about 75 percent of them will be outside the U.S., the company said.

Microsoft confirms thousands of job cuts