Microsoft cutting about 10 percent of its sales force in Azure cloud re-focus

Confirming earlier rumors, Microsoft has declared that it is cutting about 10 percent of its sales workforce in a refocus on how it sellsAzure and other related cloud services.

The cuts officially announced on Wednesday by the company impact Microsoft's international sales force, with 75 percent of the cuts coming outside the U.S. CNBC claims that 3000 jobs will be lost in total.

"Microsoft is implementing changes to better serve our customers and partners. Today, we are taking steps to notify some employees that their jobs are under consideration or that their positions will be eliminated," a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC. "Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time-to-time, re-deployment in others."

Worldwide, Microsoft employs around 121,000 people, with 71,000 employees just in the U.S.

Microsoft also claims that the move is not a cost-cutting one. Rather, the move will shift employees who are specifically knowledgeable into different positions to sell larger packages to relevant industries.

The layoffs are just a fraction of the 18,000 it trimmed in 2014, which was the largest ever in the company's history. Most in that round came from professional and factory positions related to the purchase of Nokia.