I see that this is being spun as part of the larger layoffs at Microsoft in general, but make no mistake, this is highly unusual for an institution as distinguished and well respected as Microsoft Research (both internally at Microsoft, and externally amongst academia in general)

I think there is much more under the surface than is visible here. We'll have to wait for the official PR story from Microsoft (which I'm sure will clarify nothing at all). But for now I remain puzzled at this move.