Microsoft just laid off its best presenter

A staple of Microsoft’s recent press conferences has been Bryan Roper, the exuberant man wearing a trilby who was able to do a better job than anyone else on the planet at getting people excited about minor Windows features. But it looks like we’ve seen the last of him at Microsoft: Roper tweeted out today that he’s been laid off, as part of around 700 jobs being cut this week.

It’s a bit of a surprise to see Microsoft let go of such a recognizable and well-liked, if also often-mocked, face of the company. Microsoft loved Roper enough that it published a feature-length story about the strange circumstances that brought him from working at “a cruise ship piano lounge” to Microsoft’s marketing team. The company even called him a “rock star.”

Roper’s job was one of around 700 that are being cut at Microsoft this week, according to Business Insider. Microsoft announced last June that it would cut 2,850 jobs within a year, and this new set of layoffs is part of that. It’s a huge number of positions, although Microsoft still employs an enormous workforce of over 113,000 people.