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Microsoft to cut costs?
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December 19, 2000: 6:13 a.m. ET
Software maker said to seek cost cuts while boosting salaries
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Microsoft Corp. plans to cut costs in all its businesses even as it boosts some workers' salaries in a bid to hold on to staff, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The software maker's CEO Steve Ballmer has requested that his top executives "significantly reduce" certain expenditures for the fiscal year, the paper said, citing a memo sent to employees late last week.
Microsoft, which warned about earnings last week for the first time in more than 10 years, has struggled recently with slower-than-expected sales of its core products.
 Ballmer sent the seven-page memo to Microsoft employees late last week, outlining seven business priorities for the company. These include new Internet initiatives and a push into new computing devices, as well as the expansion of older products such as Windows and the Office package of software, the paper said.
Microsoft's (MSFT: Research, Estimates) Windows and Office products continue to supply the bulk of revenue at the company.
The memo was sent Thursday, the same day that Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said it would fall short of Wall Street's revenue and profit forecasts for the quarter that ends Dec. 31, the paper said. It was the first profit warning from Microsoft since 1989.
After the warning, analysts express mixed opinions about the outlook for the world's biggest independent software company.
Microsoft stock fell $1.38 to $47.81 Monday, near its lowest level in a year. 
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