BANGALORE, INDIA: Amidst speculation that software giant Microsoft is planning to trim its workforce to survive in a bad time, brokerage firm Oppenheimer & Co's analyst Brad Reback suggested that such layoff exercises "would be a healthy move for the company."

According to a report in the Microsoft blog, Reback has suggested that layoffs at Microsoft would be "well-received" by Wall Street. A 10 per cent cut in Microsoft's work force would offset a $3 billion decline in the company's revenue, by saving about $1.2 billion a year in costs.

That would amount to about 10 cents of earnings per share, Reback has reportedly suggested. If this statistics is any indication, the software giant with around 91000 employees in the payroll, may give the pink slip to over 9000 employees very soon.

However, Microsoft declined to make any comment on the issue. "It's totally a speculation, we we don't want to make any comment on that," said a Microsoft spokesperson in India.

"Moreover, the said blog has nothing to do with Microsoft and who hosts it is unknown. Since anybody can post comment on such a blog, it will not be right to comment on the issue," she added.