New York-- Witnessing a steeply declining economy, a layoff is not a surprise. But a layoff of 15,000 people and that too from Microsoft, is surely surprising. Unconfirmed vague rumors of huge Microsoft layoffs have gathered momentum with one site making specific claims. The latest to stake the claim on the possibility of layoffs at the software giant is the blog Fudzilla, which puts the number of job cuts at 15,000, or nearly 17 percent of Microsoft’s worldwide operations.

That is the latest buzz about potential Microsoft layoffs. While rumors have been swirling of job losses for several weeks, there has not been a great deal of detail to the gossip. Earlier reports only described that as many as 10% could get the axe, and that Wall Street would see that as “healthy,” according to Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Brad Reback.