Job, Job cuts, Job creators

[zuoom]

China's Lenovo "to lay off 200 staff" in Beijing
Fri Jan 2, 2009 4:37am EST


HONG KONG, Jan 2 (Reuters) - China's Lenovo Group (0992.HK), the world's No.4 personal computer maker, plans to lay off 200 employees at its headquarters in Beijing as it fights tough economic conditions, an influential Chinese magazine said.

Of those redundancies, only about 10 would be senior executives, Chinese-language Caijing magazine reported on its online edition, quoting unnamed company insiders.

Lenovo had also suspended hiring and planned to sack contractors at its factories, Caijing said.

Lenovo, which acquired IBM's (IBM.N) PC arm in 2005 for $1.25 billion, making it once a model for ambitious Chinese companies expanding abroad, is expected to announce a major restructuring plan on Jan. 8 including changes of its top management, Caijing reported, quoting unidentified sources.

Lenovo's head of Japan market had resigned, due partly to slow business growth in Japan, Caijing said, adding Japan and India were Lenovo's two focuses in the Asia-Pacific region.

Friday was a public holiday in China and company officials were not available for comment.

Last week, China Business News, an influential Chinese-language business daily, said Lenovo might merge its Greater China and Russia operations with its Asia-Pacific operations.

David Miller, president for the Asia Pacific region, is expected to resign and Chen Shaopeng, now president of the Greater China region, would head the merged operations, China Business News said.

Lenovo posted a 78 percent plunge in net profit to $23.44 million for the quarter ended in September, its worst performance since its acquisition of IBM's PC business in 2005.

via : http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSHKG34136320090102

first read via : http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11199&Itemid=1

[tags] fudzilla

[zuoom]

TOKYO — Toyota is suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March, a stoppage of unprecedented scale for the nation’s top automaker as it grapples with shrinking global demand.

The last time Toyota Motor Corp halted production at all its Japan plants was in August 1993, when demand plunged because of a rising yen, and that was for only one day, according to the company.

A global economic downturn has hammered the auto industry in Japan and elsewhere, forcing carmakers to cut staff, lower production and delay new models. Major automakers in the U.S. had teetered on the brink of collapse until securing a multibillion dollar government lifeline.

“We are coping with a slump in global sales,” Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said Tuesday. “Demand in the world auto market is so depressed that every model is falling sharply in sales.”

Toyota said last year that it was stopping production at its 12 domestic plants for three days in January. But it decided on additional closures because of the global downturn. Toyota will stop output for six days in February and five days in March, it said.

Of Toyota’s domestic factories, four produce vehicles while the rest make engines and auto parts.

Overnight, Toyota reported that its U.S. sales in December were down 37% on year, a worse drop than Ford Motor Co’s 32% drop and GM’s 31 percent slide.

The manufacturers are also struggling in its home market, which has been stagnant for years. The sales drop has worsened this year amid a global recession.

Sales of new vehicles in Japan fell to 3.2 million vehicles last year, the lowest in 34 years, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.

Last month, Toyota said it was slipping into its first operating loss in 70 years, expecting 150 billion yen of operating losses for the fiscal year ending March 2009.

Toyota, which makes the Prius gas-electric hybrid and Camry sedan, expects 50 billion yen in net profit, down from 1.7 trillion yen earned the previous year.

via : http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=376193

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"wicked". as in serious powerful move as set forth by Toyota.

[zuoom]

Alcoa to slash 13,500 jobs

By Alan Rappeport in New York

Published: January 6 2009 23:13 | Last updated: January 6 2009 23:13

Alcoa, the US aluminium group, said on Tuesday that it would cut 13,500 jobs, or 13 per cent of its workforce, and curb production to reduce costs in the face of the economic downturn.

The worldwide cuts will be completed by the end of 2009. An extra 1,700 contract employees will be fired and the company has introduced a salary and hiring freeze.

The largest aluminium maker in the US also announced its third production cut in as many months, reducing smelting output by 750,000 tonnes a year, or 18 per cent of its annual output. “These are extraordinary times, requiring speed and decisiveness to address the current economic downturn, and flexibility and foresight to be prepared for future uncertainties in our markets,” Klaus Kleinfeld, chief executive, said in a statement.

Alcoa said it would cut capital expenditures by 50 per cent to $1.8bn. It had suspended its share repurchase programme and said it would look to sell four non-core businesses valued at up to $100m.

Alcoa plans to sell its global foil business. It also plans to sell its electrical systems business, its cast car wheels unit, and its European transportation products division. The divestitures will affect 22,600 workers in 38 locations.

The New York-based company also revealed fourth-quarter charges of up to $950m. Its restructuring and divestment plans are expected to save an annual $450m before taxes.

Mr Kleinfeld said: “We will continue to monitor the dynamic market situation to ensure that we adjust capacity to meet any future changes in demand and seize new opportunities that emerge.”

In common with competitors Rio Tinto and Century Aluminum, Alcoa has suffered declining demand for materials such as lightweight metal due to the stricken US car industry.

via : http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f68/economic-predictions-65419/index15.html#post1188795

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this would be the upstream.

toyota did the amazing 11 days shutdown. unreal.

[zuoom]

Analyst PREDICTS 40% Unemployment! No Recovery until 2015! CAN ALL THESE ANALYSTS BE WRONG?

We think we now have enough data from both the fundamentals and technicals to make some serious forecasts and predictions for 2009. While 2008 was a nasty year when lots of things imploded, they are far from being repaired. Treasury Secretary Paulson told us this week there are no more surprises, which tells me we haven't even discovered but a small portion of this monster derivative mess. His ripping-off of the taxpayers to the tune of $700 billion is only a warm-up. However, the larger question for traders and investors is what could happen next and when.
In the following report we take the key global economic points and suggest the outcome for 2009.

The most important news for 2008 was the destruction of the big global banks' net worth and their badly wounded ability to conduct normal business and make market-moving loans. Ben & Hank's bailout only helped the bad-boy banks reliquify themselves to remain somewhat solvent and stay in business. They are doing nothing to extend credit to any business enhancing western or global economies. The 2009 result will be no significant banker lending, taking more bailout money and sweeping additional bad loans of all stripes under the banker's rug and hiding the rest in back rooms.

The largest surprise in our view was the massive disaster at insurance giant AIG. Despite numerous injections of bailout billions, AIG remains in very serious trouble hanging on by their proverbial fingernails. The 2009 result will be a surprise crash and failure of AIG frightening the world at large causing ripples of failures throughout western and Asian nations unable to conduct business without mandatory insurance policies. Most folks have no comprehension as to the monster fallout this will create. It is in our view literally immeasurable, and this is why Paulson handed them so much money.
Our new president is determined to hand out $860 Billion to One Trillion dollars in a Herculean effort to literally buy a new economic recovery. While some of his ideas are noble indeed the overall plan
will have little effect and Great Depression II shall take hold in 2009 with crashing stock markets in May and September-October 2009. We think the worst of the worst hits in later September 2009.

During the spring of next year we see:
(1) A second larger wave of residential housing mortgage failures; (2) The first big wave of auto loan failures and repossessions; (3) Over $40 billion in credit card defaults, smashing the bank lenders; (4) The first wave of commercial mortgage failures and foreclosures on shopping malls, office buildings and other commercials; (5) And finally, the grand smashing finale of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) originated with no margin money or down payments! We heard today the total is $500 trillion! I cannot even fathom that number. These five converging train wrecks could take the Dow from a dead cat bounce of 10400-10800 back to 7250, or even 6600, or 5600.

Shares traders and investors have one more solid quarter, in our view to regain some stock market losses on the forthcoming Obama Trillion Dollar handouts. We think the rising share markets will help most all sectors gain some recovery and provide the illusion the bottoms are in and new bases found. The stark reality hits home after shares peak in April or early May taking an unprecedented selling high dive scaring the wits out of Americans and the watching world.

Even with these events and rising unemployment and social problems, economic observers and analysts could continue to plead the worst is over, the bottoms are in and a fine, new, shiny world of trading and investing in our bright economy lies just ahead for the fall of 2009. Then, in later September and early October, the New York, London, Tokyo and Asian markets take a monster crash. How low is low and how bad can it get? We think the Dow could end-up on November 1st, 2009 anywhere from 5,600 to a low of 3,000 or even 1,500. One guideline will be a falling overshoot of PE's on our largest, so-called international corporations posting lows of 4 to7. Today, many of them are near 18. What does this tell us about the severity of our projections?
Unemployment nationally in the USA is now touching 16%. The officially posted number is somewhere near half of that. By the fall of 2009, American REAL UNEMPLOYMENT WILL BE NEAR THE ALLTIME 1930'S DEPRESSION HIGH OF 25% UNEMPLOYED. SADLY, THAT IS NOT THE WORST AS IT GETS MORE DIRE. WE PREDICT REAL, USA UNEMPLOYMENT REACHES 30-40%. IN THE RUST BELT STATES OF MICHIGAN AND OHIO, WHILE 40% IS NOT UNREALISTIC.

Several European nations have larger, more established social safety nets for the unemployed. In the USA, local, regional and national authorities are not nearly as prepared. The American federal government departments for food stamps and the job of providing welfare provisions will be overwhelmed. This will be a Katrina event for the hungry citizens of the United States. Urban areas will see skyrocketing crime and in parts of some cities, life could become totally uninhabitable.

The last report we've seen on those receiving food handouts and related welfare amounted to 11 million USA citizens with 700,000 children going hungry each day. We suspect the true amount of those needing food help will rise to 35,000,000 with an untold tragic number of them being little, defenseless children. Governments remain in denial and are not prepared for this national emergency whatsoever. As things worsen, food riots and others with violence aimed at the "haves' are common.

The number of bank failures over the next three years will be in the thousands. In addition, the US Dollar's valuation could break recent lows near 70.00 on the index, dropping to 46.00 by 2011 or 2012.
Inflation or potentially hyperinflation is quite real as the Federal Reserve and US Treasury strain to print and circulate cash to prod our stalled economy. It is simply not working even with the dramatically lower interest rates of late. Benny Bernanke is out of rate cut running room.

Consumers are broke and going broker. Households of interrelated families are doubling and tripling up even with several employed members being under one roof. Basic costs of rent, mortgage payments, health care, food, utilities and taxes are too much to bear on stagnant and in some cases falling wages. In some areas of America, there are entire subdivisions of homes totally abandoned or existing with only a hand full of occupants. The millions thrown at lenders for new mortgages are not getting through to buyers, as there are fewer of them. We are witnessing system breakdown.

Municipalities and states are sinking into a spending, debt-ridden morass. It was reported today that 22 of 50 USA states are in serious budgetary trouble. California is one of those in terrible condition and Michigan is already technically broke as are many of her cities. Detroit will file bankruptcy in 2009 and there will many other surprises as well. There will be a cascade of bond defaults and the outcome will cap the ability of these cities, states and counties to borrow ever more.

The shining light through all of this is the faster we find the bottom the faster we can recover. Sadly, the recovery process will take years. Futures and commodities traders should continue to earn steady profits as the stock markets slide into oblivion for years. We see no recovery until 2015.

Roger Wiegand
Editor, Trader Tracks Newsletter & The Rog Blog at WeBeatTheStreet.com

via : http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f68/economic-predictions-65419/index15.html

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now, that will be THE GREAT DEPRESSION aka TGD.

would it ever happen? why not?

[tags] unemployment, TGD

[zuoom]

Private job losses mount in December

Wed Jan 7, 2009 10:44am EST
By Burton Frierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Job losses and plans to lay off workers hammered the struggling U.S. economy in the final month of 2008, according to private reports that could foreshadow surprisingly grim labor market data from the government on Friday.

U.S. private employers shed 693,000 jobs in December, up sharply from the revised 476,000 jobs lost in November and far more than economists estimated, a report by ADP Employer Services said on Wednesday.

The data comes two days ahead of the government's more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report, which unlike the ADP numbers includes public sector jobs as well.

Analysts said there was reason to expect a worse outcome in non-farm payrolls than their original projection of 500,000 jobs lost for the economy in December, which was the median of economists' forecasts in an earlier Reuters poll.

"This is shockingly awful," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York.

"If the recent relationship between the ADP numbers -- after their recent revisions -- and the official payroll data holds, then we should expect a number of about minus -700,000 on Friday, the biggest drop in 59 years."

Most analysts noted Wednesday's ADP report was the first released under a new methodology, warning of uncertainty over its forecasting power. Still, the new system was designed to more closely mirror the government's monthly payrolls results.

Separate data showed planned layoffs at U.S. firms eased in December from the previous month's seven-year high but were up an astounding 275 percent annually as the year-old recession cut a huge swathe of destruction through job market.

The economic slump, which is likely to be the longest since the Great Depression of the 1930s, also produced the worst year of layoffs since 2003, outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas added in its monthly report on U.S. job cuts.

The grim data helped push U.S. stocks lower. Government bond prices, which generally benefit from signs of economic weakness, pared their losses in the immediate wake of the ADP release but later went back on the slide.

Underlining the bleak outlook, the Congressional Budget Office said in new forecasts released on Wednesday that it expected the U.S. economy to contract 2.2 percent in 2009 before recovering in 2010 to grow 1.5 percent.

MORE PESSIMISTIC NOW

The ADP December job losses were the biggest since the survey's launch in 2001.

"Expectations for Friday's nonfarm payroll release will be more pessimistic than they were before this morning's data round," said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York.

"For now, the consensus is minus-500,000, but we have to assume people are thinking minus-600,000 or more is possible."

Indeed, Scott Anderson, senior economist at Wells Fargo Economics in Minneapolis, said he raised his forecast to "at least 600,000" December job losses from an earlier projection of 500,000.

Anderson also raised his forecast for the unemployment rate to 7.1 percent from 7.0 percent before. The median forecast for unemployment in the Reuters poll was a rise to 7.0 percent from November's 6.7 percent.

Analysts at RDQ Economics also said they raised their expectations to 600,000 job losses from their earlier projection of 500,000.

Shepherdson, at High Frequency Economics, said even the best case scenario implied a payrolls drop of 568,000.

Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, which jointly developed the ADP report, said the ADP data was consistent with a loss of about 670,000 jobs in the payrolls report, assuming some 20,000 government jobs would be added.

Worse yet, he said he still expected a little more than 2 million U.S. job losses over the next year.

He added that the U.S. economy probably contracted at a 5.5 percent annualized rate in the fourth quarter and would shrink 3.5 percent in the first quarter of this year.

"After that economic growth is going to depend on the size and timing of the fiscal package that is being discussed in Washington right now," Prakken said.

The Challenger report said heavy job-cutting could continue through at least the first half of 2009.

Job cuts announced in December totaled 166,348, down 8.4 percent from November's 181,671, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said. Despite the monthly decline, layoffs were up from just 44,416 in the year-ago period.

(Additional Reporting by John Parry and Herb Lash in New York, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: Reuters

There is a similar report in CNA posted on 08 January 2009 0012 hrs.

From the CNA report - The US jobless rate has risen to 6.7 percent, the highest since October 1993, with nearly three million people having joined the jobless ranks since the recession began a year ago.

via : http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=375543

[zuoom]

China's Lenovo "to lay off 200 staff" in Beijing
Fri Jan 2, 2009 4:37am EST

Lenovo Group Ltd., China’s biggest personal-computer maker, will cut about 11 percent of its workforce amid a global recession that forced the company to forecast its first loss in 11 quarters. Lenovo will eliminate about 2,500 jobs, leading to savings of about $300 million in the year ending March 2010, the Raleigh, North Carolina-based company said today. The computer maker said it will book a charge of about $150 million this fiscal year.
 The manufacturer of Thinkpad laptops said it probably had a “material loss” for the quarter ended Dec. 31 because personal-computer demand fell. The latest reductions will top the more than 2,000 jobs it cut in 2006 and 2007 at the unit acquired from International Business Machines Corp. to turn around the previously unprofitable operations.
 “Not many people were expecting the company to post a loss last quarter,” said Frank He, who rates Lenovo “hold” at BOC International in Hong Kong. “This shows overseas sales are in even worse shape than anticipated.”
 The company will reduce executive compensation by 30 percent to 50 percent as part of measures to reorganize its business, Lenovo said in a statement. It will also combine its China and Asia Pacific units.
 “Although the integration of the IBM PC business for the past three years was a success, our last quarter’s performance did not meet our expectations,” Chairman Yang Yuanqing said in the statement. The company is seeking “to ensure that in an uncertain economy, our business operates as efficiently and effectively as possible, and continues to grow in the future.”
 Slowing Economy
 Lenovo said revenue and gross profit in the three months ended Dec. 31 probably declined from a year earlier because of lower demand from the commercial segment and the slowing economy in China, its main market. The company last posted a loss in the quarter ended March 2006.
 Lenovo is the world’s fourth-biggest PC maker by market share after Hewlett-Packard, Dell Inc. and Acer Inc., according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher IDC.
 Lenovo shares will resume trading today after they were suspended yesterday pending the announcement.
 The company will hold a conference call with analysts at 9:30 a.m. in Hong Kong today.

via : http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2228911

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11%. aga aga 1 out of 10. rather consistent.

question: would it be enough?

where do the re-trench go to? they go unemployed, and stay that way?

what's happening in the industry?

[zuoom]

EMC to cut 2,400 jobs
Boston Business Journal - by Jackie Noblett

EMC Corp. said late Wednesday it plans to lay off 2,400 people worldwide — including 600 in Massachusetts — amid broad cost cutting measures at the Hopkinton, Mass., IT giant.

The company (NYSE: EMC), which employs 8,900 in Massachusetts, said it is looking to cut costs in its core information infrastructure business by about $350 million in 2009 and a total of $500 million by 2010. The restructuring program will consist of consolidating “back-office functions” and offices, reduction of management layers, rebalance investments toward higher-growth products and markets, and reduction of spending on contractors, third-party services and travel.

The layoffs make up about 7 percent of EMC’s 34,000 employees and will be spread equally among employees in the United States and abroad, said EMC spokesman Michael Gallant. Massachusetts will see a slightly smaller reduction of 6.7 percent. Most of the layoffs will be completed by the end of 2009.

“We managed our costs and investments very carefully throughout 2008,” said Joe Tucci, EMC chairman, president and CEO, in a statement. “However, we believe this additional program will help us strike the right balance between achieving higher levels of efficiency and sustaining strong business agility and performance, without in any way compromising our ability to serve the needs of our customers over the long-term. We are very confident in the competitiveness of our products, services and solutions and the skill and determination of our workforce. Our goal is to position EMC for continued success throughout the downturn and for even greater success during the next economic growth cycle.”

The layoffs were disclosed amid an announcement that EMC expects fourth quarter revenue of about $4 billion, up 8 percent over the third quarter and 4 percent over the fourth quarter of 2007. It expects earnings of 13 cents to 14 cents per share, including the impact of a 10 cent restructuring charge.

Analyst say the news was not unexpected, despite the company’s relatively strong performance, as many large technology firms are paring down operating expenses to buffer sluggish sales.

“I view the news as a sigh of relief,” said Edward Jones analyst William Kreher. “It was a prudent and necessary move. ... They should emerge a stronger company because of it.”

Kreher said he is still bullish on the EMC’s long-term prospects, as the company has been able to meet revenue and earnings estimates at a time when many tech companies are falling far short.

Earlier today, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) said it will miss its revenue forecast by about $1 billion to $8.2 billion on sluggish computer sales.

Shares of EMC were up 63 cents to $11.81 in after-hours trading.

via : http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2009/01/05/daily52.html?jst=b_ln_hl

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summary 7% cut.

EMC is one of THE data company around. rather surprised they did this.

have a look at their stock.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=EMC

interesting. 

[Vorsprung durch Technik]

start saying your prayers for those as employees, the time has never been as bad as now! union won't help much.. perhaps they will tell you better with paycuts, then total cuts (retrenchment)

[zuoom]

check out the list.
http://news.cnet.com/tech-layoffs/?tag=mncol;posts

January 8, 2009 5:50 AM PST
Tech layoffs: The scorecard
Posted by Rafe Needleman

With the overall economy slumping, the tech industry is taking its fair share of hits. We'll keep updating the chart below as news of company changes comes in. See our complete coverage of how the tech sector is faring here: Tracking the tech downturn.

Know of a layoff not listed here? Let us know on this form or e-mail us.

Company     Date     How many     Further reading
Dell    01/08/2009    1,900    Dell's Ireland plant to shed 1,900 jobs
Lenovo    01/08/2009    2,500 (11 percent)    Lenovo to cut 2,500 jobs amid restructuring
One Laptop Per Child    01/07/2009    32 (50 percent)    OLPC slashes workforce in half, cuts salaries
Motion Computing    01/07/2009    30 (25 percent)    Motion Computing cuts about 30 workers
EMC    01/07/2009    2,400 (7 percent)    EMC to cut 2,400 from workforce
Turning Technologies    01/07/2009    31    Vindy.com: Turning Tech layoff hits 31
Borland Software    01/06/2009    130 (15 percent)    VMware hires away Borland CEO
HelioVolt    01/06/2009    15    Two Austin employers announce job cuts
LiveJournal    01/06/2009    About 12    LiveJournal deletes 'about a dozen' jobs
Logitech    01/06/2009    15% of salaried staff worldwide    Logitech to slash 15 percent of workforce
Lenovo    01/05/2009    200 staff in Beijing offices    Lenovo rumored readying layoffs
Microsoft    01/01/2009    Unknown    Microsoft planning big layoffs for January?
AMD    12/28/2008    100 additional, making 600 total since November    AMD cites $70 million in fourth-quarter costs
Unisys    12/22/2008    1,300; 4%    Reuters: Unisys slashes 1,300 jobs
Electronic Arts    12/19/2008    10 percent    EA boosts layoffs to 10 percent of workforce
Western Digital    12/17/2008    2,500; 5%    Reuters: Western Digital warns on revenue, will cut jobs
Midway Games    12/16/2008    180; 25%    Reuters: Midway Games to cut jobs, take charge
Laird    12/16/2008    5,000; nearly 50%    Reuters: Laird announces 5,000 job losses as sales slump
WebMD    12/16/2008    4% to 5%    PaidContent: WebMD to cut up to 5% of staff
Gaia Interactive    12/15/2008    13%    VentureWire: Gaia lays off staff
Alcatel-Lucent    12/12/2008    1,000 managers, 5,000 contractors    Big revamp for Alcatel-Lucent, with Web 2.0 spin
CBS Interactive    12/11/2008    Undisclosed    All Things D: CBS Interactive/CNET Re-Org: The Complete Memo
SGI    12/11/2008    225; 15%    Silicon Graphics adjusts business plan
Yahoo    12/10/2008    1,520    Yahoo pink slips issued, recruiters circling above
Sony    12/09/2008    16,000 total    Sony to lay off 8,000 full-timers, 8,000 others
Netflix    12/08/2008    50 people    Neflix cuts 50 tech jobs; streaming issues linger
Level 3 Communications    12/08/2008    450; 8%    Denver Business Journal: Level 3 cutting 450 jobs
BMC Software    12/05/2008    350; 6%    AP: BMC Software to cut 350 jobs, 6% of workforce
RealNetworks    12/04/2008    130; 7%    Sources: Layoffs hit RealNetworks
Viacom    12/04/2008    850; 7%    Viacom lays off 7 percent of workforce
AT&T    12/04/2008    12,000; 4%    AT&T lays off 12,000
Adobe    12/03/2008    600    Adobe warns of shortfall, job cuts
Carlyle Group    12/03/2008    about 100, 10%    Bloomberg: Carlyle Cuts 10% of Workers, Including U.S. LBO Jobs
Analog Devices    12/03/2008    about 20    EE Times: Analog Devices shutters DSP design center
Sage North America    12/03/2008    150    Sage North America Reports 2008 Results
Gawker Media    12/02/2008    "a few"    Gawker Media's rolling layoffs continue
Intrinsyc    12/01/2008    95; 30%    680 News: Intrinsyc cuts global workforce 30 percent
Fring    11/27/2008    10; 20%    Fring cuts staff by 20 percent
Technorati    11/25/2008    6; 12%    Technorati trims workforce, cuts pay
TiVo    11/25/2008    7%    TiVo profits from EchoStar litigation
Palm    11/21/2008    up to 10% of 1,050    Palm orders layoffs as Apple and RIM take toll
Buzznet    11/21/2008    10; 11%    Valleywag: Music community Buzznet lays off 10
LodgeNet    11/21/2008    170    Argus Leader: LodgeNet cutting jobs
Lam Research    11/20/2008    600; 15%    Reuters: Chipmaker Lam Research cuts 600 jobs
Akamai    11/20/2008    7%    Akamai to cut 7 percent of workforce
Lawson Software    11/19/2008    200; 5%    AP: Lawson Software shares tumble after job cuts
Pillar Data Systems    11/18/2008    150; 30%    SJ Mercury News: Pillar Data Systems lays off 30% of staff
KLA-Tencor    11/18/2008    900; 15%    SF Business Times: KLA-Tencor to cut 15% of people
Sun Microsystems    11/14/2008    6,000; 15% to 18%    Sun restructures, lays off up to 6,000
Rearden Commerce    11/14/2008    10%    Valleywag: Rearden Commerce cuts 50 people
Applied Materials    11/12/2008    1,800; 12%    Applied Materials cutting 12 percent of workforce
National Semi    11/12/2008    330    Reuters: Nat Semi cuts revenue view, plans job cuts
Wired.com    11/11/2008    3 of 28    Wired.com trims editorial staff by 10 percent
Current Media    11/11/2008    20%    Layoffs hit Al Gore's Current Media
Six Apart    11/11/2008    8%    Six Apart: Changes at Six Apart
Tucows    11/11/2008    15%    Restructuring at Tucows
Circuit City    11/10/2008    20%    Circuit City files for bankruptcy
BitTorrent    11/10/2008    50%    After a tough year, BitTorrent replaces CEO again
Insight    11/10/2008    240; 4%    East Valley Tribune: Insight Enterprises lays off 240
Honeywell    11/07/2008    700    Phoenix Business Journal: Honeywell moving 700 jobs out of Phoenix
Zappos    11/06/2008    8%    Letter to Zappos employees
Veoh    11/05/2008    20; 20%    Veoh lays off 20 percent of workforce
LinkedIn    11/05/2008    36; 10%    LinkedIn slashes 10 percent of its workforce
Cadence    11/05/2008    625; 12%    Cadence Design cuts 625 jobs
Anadigics    11/05/2008    100; 15%    Anadigics cuts 15 percent of workforce
AMD    11/05/2008    500; 3%    AMD slashes 500 more jobs
Nokia    11/04/2008    600    Hundreds of Nokia jobs under threat
THQ    11/03/2008    4 to 5 studios    Kotaku: THQ Shuttering Four to Five Studios?
Tektronix    11/03/2008    150    Tektronix announces fresh layoffs
Spot Runner    11/03/2008    115; about 30%    TechCrunch: 115 people lose their jobs at Spot Runner
Nortel Networks    11/03/2008    1,300; 5%    Nortel earnings tank
YouSendIt    10/31/2008    20%    VentureBeat: YouSendIt trims 20 percent of staff
Aliph    10/31/2008    25 people    Layoffs hit Bluetooth headset maker Aliph
Motorola    10/30/2008    3,000    Motorola's struggle for survival
Electronic Arts    10/30/2008    600    Kotaku: Electronic Arts Lays Off Six Hundred
Freescale    10/30/2008    2,400; 10%    Freescale dragged to loss; will lay off 10%
Symantec    10/29/2008    4.5% cost savings    Symantec layoffs coming
Avalanche Studios    10/28/2008    77 of 160    Avalanche Studios lays off nearly half of staff
Revision3    10/27/2008    9 people, 5 shows    Video start-up Revision3 joins the layoff club
Helium    10/27/2008    30% of 110    F***dStartups: Helium.com huge layoff
BroadSoft    10/24/2008    about 12    GigaOM: BroadSoft cuts jobs as sales slow
Comcast Spotlight    10/24/2008    300+ of 3,500    Broadcasting & Cable: Comcast Spotlight cuts positions
ADC Telecoms    10/23/2008    300-350    AP: ADC expects fiscal 2008 loss, plans job cuts
Xerox    10/23/2008    3,000    Xerox to cut 3,000 jobs
Avid Technology    10/23/2008    500    Form 8-K: Results of Operations and Financial Condition...
Nokia    11/04/2008    600    Hundreds of Nokia jobs under threat
Tektronix    11/03/2008    150    Tektronix announces fresh layoffs
Spot Runner    11/03/2008    115; about 30%    TechCrunch: 115 people lose their jobs at Spot Ru
Circuit City    11/03/2008    17%    Circuit City to close 155 stores
THQ    11/03/2008    4-5 studios    Kotaku: THQ Shuttering Four to Five Studios?
Break.com    10/23/2008    11 of 80    Break.com lays off 11
Eons    10/23/2008    8 of about 33    The Boston Globe: Eons eliminates eight jobs
Dell    10/22/2008    8,900    The Register: Dell: 'We will out-pace the rest of the industry'
SanDisk    10/22/2008    TBA    SanDisk layoffs in the works
ManiaTV    10/22/2008    20 of 70    NewTeeVee: ManiaTV lays off 20, to reduce orig
iMeem    10/22/2008    25% of 80    Imeem jumping on the layoff bandwagon
Mahalo    10/22/2008    10%    Calacanis.com: Tough times, hard decisions
HP    10/22/2008    24,600 over three years    HP to slash 24,600 jobs following EDS buy
Ticketmaster    10/21/2008    35%    F***edStartups: TicketMaster.com laying off 35%
Comcast    10/21/2008    300    AP: Comcast to cut up to 300 jobs in eastern di
Manhattan Associates    10/21/2008    6.5%    Reuters: Manhattan Associates hit by slump
Softchoice    10/20/2008    6.5% of 958    Toronto Star: Softchoice cuts staff by 6.5 percent
Veoh    10/20/2008    0    UPDATE: Layoffs at Veoh, or not?
Wikia    10/20/2008    3    UPDATE based on personal interview with Jimmy Wales
Autotrader    10/20/2008    69    Orlando Business Times: Autotrader to close c
Texas Instruments    10/20/2008    possibly 300    TXCN: Hundreds face pink slips at TI
Sony Ericsson    10/17/2008    2,000 globally    Bloomberg: Sony Ericsson Reports Smaller Loss Than Anticipated
Sprint    10/17/2008    ongoing    KMBC-TV: Sprint plans 'gradual layoffs'
Jaxtr    10/17/2008    13    13 employees laid off at VoIP start-up Jaxtr
Zivity    10/17/2008    33%    Zivity lays off a third of staff
Zillow    10/17/2008    25%    Zillow lays off 25 percent of staff
SearchMe    10/17/2008    20%    Search engine startup SearchMe cuts 20 perce
Heavy    10/17/2008    14%    Downturn strikes again: Heavy lays off 14%
Lenovo    10/17/2008    50 in Morrisville, N.C.    WRAL: Lenovo to lay off 50 workers at Morrisville headq
MPC Computers    10/17/2008    200    Idaho Business Review: Details released on MP
Hi5    10/16/2008    10% to 15%    No Hi5's today
Sirius XM    10/16/2008    50    Sirius XM makes cuts to XM in D.C.
Pandora    10/16/2008    20    Pandora cuts 20 employees
Adbrite    10/16/2008    40%    'Layoffs are not a statement about performance'
Actel    10/16/2008    10%    EE Times: Actel cuts 10% of workforce
Tesla Motors    10/15/2008    Detroit office    Automaker lays off Detroit office with blog post
SkyRider    10/15/2008    All    P2P start-up SkyRider has shut down
Appcelerator    10/15/2008    6    Tough times, tough decisions
Jive Software    10/14/2008    33%    Jive Software lays off 1/3 of staff
Redfin    10/14/2008    20%    Redfin blames economy in layoffs
Qimonda    10/13/2008    3,000    Qimonda: Qimonda announces global restructuring program...
Seesmic    10/10/2008    7    Tough times. Tough decisions
Lulu    10/09/2008    24    Lulu cuts jobs as revenues slow
Micron    10/09/2008    15%    Micron to cut workforce by 15 percent, slash flash output
eBay    10/06/2008    1,000    eBay buys Bill Me Later, lays off 1,000
Gawker Media    10/03/2008    14%    Gawker Media to lay off 14 percent of editorial
Entellium    10/03/2008    95%    Workers get ax at software make

[tags] layoffs, scorecard

[zuoom]

Japan's TDK to axe 8000

Thu, Jan 08, 2009
Reuters

TOKYO - JAPANESE electronic components maker TDK Corp said on Thursday it would close four overseas manufacturing bases and cut more than 8,000 workers as it faces its biggest-ever annual net loss this business year.


[COLOR="_______"]The company said it expects these restructuring measures will help improve its annual operating profit by 62.9 billion yen (S$1 billion).

TDK now expects to plunge into a 28 billion yen net loss in the year to March due to weak orders and a stronger yen. It now expects the dollar to average 90 yen in the January-March quarter, against its previous estimate of 100 yen.[/COLOR]

via : http://www.singsupplies.com/showthread.php?t=14457

[zuoom]

Human cost rises as recession deepens

By Andrew Taylor and Alan Beattie in London

Published: January 8 2009 20:14 | Last updated: January 8 2009 20:14

The human cost of the global downturn is becoming ever more evident, with figures due out on Friday likely to show that another half million Americans lost their jobs to the deepening recession in December.

Some economists fear last month’s drop in US non-farm payrolls, the world’s most widely watched measure of employment, will be even greater than November’s fall of 533,000 – itself the biggest decline since December 1974.

http://www.singsupplies.com/showthread.php?t=14459

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what's the holding level before all hell breaks lose?

[zuoom]

Marks & Spencer to axe 1,230 jobs and close 27 stores

AFP - Thursday, January 8, 2009

LONDON (AFP) - - British retailer Marks & Spencer, an icon and key barometer of consumer sentiment on the nation's high streets, is to cut up to 1,230 jobs and shut 27 stores, it said Wednesday.ADVERTISEMENT
 


The news, in a Christmas trading update by the clothes-to-food chain, added fresh gloom to the retail sector as a sharp economic downturn starts to bite and comes one day after the shutdown of general retailer Woolworths.

Like-for-like sales -- stripping out the effect of new floor space -- dived 7.1 percent in 13 weeks to December 27, 2008, compared with the same period of the previous financial year, M&S said.

The group said that 25 of the 27 store closures would involve the company's "Simply Food" outlets specialising exclusively in food products, notably those that are small and under-performing. The move would mean the loss of 780 jobs.

In addition, Marks & Spencer said it planned to eliminate as many as 450 posts in administrative services and would reduce retirement benefits.

The measures are expected to save 175-200 million pounds (193-220 million euros, 261-298 million dollars) in the company's next fiscal year, which begins April 1.

"We are aware that the proposed changes ... will be difficult for those members of staff impacted but given that we expect challenging economic conditions to continue for at least the next 12 months we believe we are taking the right action to maintain the strength of our business," chairman Stuart Rose said.

The British retail sector, buckling under the weight of a looming recession, has already witnessed the collapse of several chains including Woolworths, furniture group MFI and entertainment store Zavvi.

In the run-up to Christmas, M&S held two one-day sales when it slashed prices by 20 percent in an attempt to attract more festive shoppers.

M&S had revealed in November that first-half net profit sank 43 percent as cash-strapped consumers tightened their belts.

Rose said Wednesday that the company was forced to slim down with a lean start to the year in prospect.

"I think January, February, March is going to be a testing time for us all and that is why we have regretfully today taken the action we have taken to prepare ourselves for what we do believe will be a difficult year," he told the BBC.

"I'm confident we will come out of it in one piece, I am confident we will be able to look forward but I think it will be tough."

"The third quarter like-for-like sales are bad ... but not quite so bad as we expected, thanks to a late spending surge pre-Christmas," said Nick Bubb, retail analyst at Pali International.

Howard Wheeldon, of BGC Partners, said the results were "pretty dire."

"It seems that M&S may at last have accepted that the Simply Food chain has reached its limits in the UK or that given the difficult times we are all now living in, the whole business model needs to be rethought."

M&S's competitor in the clothing sector, chain store Debenhams, saw its shares jump more than 20 percent on Tuesday after announcing a much better-than-expected 3.3-percent drop in like-for-like sales in the final 12 weeks of 2008.

The demise of Woolworths, which had 807 stores dotted across Britain, left 27,000 people out of work.

Marks & Spencer shares ended the day up 2.2 percent at 244 pence after Wednesday's news, bucking the trend of London's FTSE 100 index which ended down 2.83 percent at 4,507.51 points.

via : http://www.singsupplies.com/showthread.php?t=14449

saw this news, the reason given is because the stores are too small to provide all the service n product to the people around there.
which brings about the question : "why set it up there? and in that size in the first place?"

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it's no longer an automotive matter.

cutting of jobs, job cut, jobcut, retrenchment, forced-leave, extended-leave, etc... is all part and parcel of the re-adjustment.
or some will coined it as re-correction, re-valuation.

some might even say it's deflation in the works, i say it's basically just devaluation in progress. (just starting i might say.)
http://www.celicasg.org/index.php?topic=4357.0

z.

[zuoom]

I am sure the truth is still somewhere in the middle of the prognosticators. But the trend of data and reports is not looking optimistic.  Again, as I posted early in the thread, I am not on the side of buy guns and food and prepare to bunker in.  But it does seem more and more like we are in an almost unprecedented spiral downwards that could get a lot worse and it would be prudent to prepare for that, and plan accordingly.

For example-


Panasonic announced they will cut flat screen investment and will shut down overseas manufacturing sites.

Ssangyong Motors seeks court receivership.

Toshiba announced they are cutting NAND Flash RAM output by 30%.  Again, a sign of a slow down in the manufacturing sector as many products use the RAM and buy in advance.  So materials and components are a sign of the near future projections by the manufacturers.

US loses most jobs since 1945
Unemployment rate hits 7.2% in December


US deficit set for postwar record

By Krishna Guha, Edward Luce and Andrew Ward in Washington

Published: January 7 2009 16:19 | Last updated: January 7 2009 22:49

The US budget deficit will hit nearly $1,200bn this fiscal year even without the cost of Barack Obama’s planned fiscal stimulus, Congress’s budget watchdog warned on Wednesday.

via : http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f68/economic-predictions-65419/index17.html

7.2% hit.

it should be sliding downhill from now on.

[zuoom]

- Lenovo (0992.HK), the world's fourth biggest PC maker, will move its Asia-Pacific headquarters from Singapore to Beijing, as part of a global restructuring plan to cope with falling with falling demand for computers. Some of its 200 local staff will lose their jobs, a company spokeswoman said.

via : http://www.singsupplies.com/showthread.php?t=14702

[zuoom]

Market Scan
U.S. Jobs Hemorrhage In '08
Maurna Desmond, 01.09.09, 10:35 AM EST
December's 524K layoffs brings the year's job losses to 2.6M and the national unemployment rate to 7.2%.

Major indexes slid Friday morning after the U.S. Labor Department reported that the national unemployment rate had jumped to a higher than expected 7.2% during the month of December and an additional 524,000 nonfarm jobs had been shed, leaving more than 10 million Americans out of work. Economists had expected a loss of 500,000 jobs, with an unemployment rate of 7.0%.

Further evidence of weakening in the labor market reinforces concerns that the American economy may be heading into a deeper and more prolonged recession than previously expected. It also increases pressure on the incoming administration to quickly forge a comprehensive stimulus program to stem the bleeding.
Article Controls


With Wall Street's fears confirmed, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 88 points, or 1.0%, to 8,654. The S&P 500 lost 14 points, or 1.6%, to 895, and the Nasdaq slipped 32 points, or 2.0%, to 1,584. Investors fled instead to safe-haven government debt, pulling down the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note to 2.48%, from 2.45% just before the report and 2.44% late Thursday.

Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors said the government data indicated that the labor situation is rapidly deteriorating. "Firms are getting their cost structures in place, especially labors costs, in order to ride out the recession," he said. "They're not waiting. They're cutting workers away, and we're seeing an incredibly rapid adjustment to the economic situation."

In the four months since Wall Street's Black September, when markets were sent into a tailspin by the collapse of storied investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings (other-otc: LEHMQ - news - people ) and the government take-under of insurance giant American International Group, (nyse: AIG - news - people ), payroll employment fell by 1.9 million, or 1.4%. Since the start of the U.S. recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 3.6 million, and the unemployment rate has surged by 2.3 percentage points.

"Basically, since December 2007 we've lost 2.6 million jobs [long-term unemployed] with no end of sight," said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland. "A stimulus package will stabilize the situation, but until we fix the banks and the trade deficit, there won't be any recovery."

Compounding the sobering report was the upward revision of November nonfarm payroll losses to 584,000, from 533,000, and October's figure was also revised upward, to 423,000 jobs lost, from 320,000.

http://www.singsupplies.com/showthread.php?t=14675

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what/who/where next?

what will happen?

how fast or slowly will it pan out? (when)

what can we do?