layoffs

I was surprised to learn today that Novell only employs 4100 people (down from 7000+ when I was there). The company is planning even more layoffs, a high percentage of which will almost certainly fall on the heads of Novell's Utah-based employees as the company offshores development on things like Groupwise to India and as it consolidates operations in Waltham, Massachusetts, a process that has been underway for several years.

I'm surprised because this has clearly been what the company needed to do for many years. The company is getting leaner, exactly what it needs to be to compete in open source. A year ago I opined:

As for Novell and the apparent belief that it just can't cut heads without cutting revenue, let me give Novell some guidance on this as a former employee: yes, you can. You have all sorts of "fat" that can be trimmed from the company....… Read more

Palm plans to get smaller in the coming weeks, as less money coming in the door means less money to spread around.

A company representative confirmed a report earlier Wednesday by PalmInfocenter that the struggling company has begun informing employees of job cuts, just as the holiday season kicks into full gear. The representative said Palm is not disclosing how many employees were affected by the decision to cut jobs, but PalmInfocenter said the number could be in the "hundreds." Palm had 1,247 employees as of May 31, according to its annual report.

Palm announced earlier this … Read more

More bad news at AOL

The company will begin laying off 2,000 employees out of a global workforce of 10,000 on Tuesday, according to an internal company-wide e-mail obtained by former Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget. An AOL representative confirmed the information.

In the e-mail sent to U.S. employees on Monday, AOL Chief Executive Randy Falco says that the layoffs are needed to keep the operations efficient as the company continues its realignment from a subscription-based ISP to an ad-supported Web company. And he promises "generous severance packages."

"So where is this taking AOL? … Read more

Internet service provider EarthLink said Tuesday that it would lay off approximately 900 employees as the company restructures in an attempt to boost its sagging stock price.

EarthLink will lose about half its staff in the restructuring as it shuts down operations in Orlando, Fla.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Harrisburg, Pa., and San Francisco. It will also substantially reduce its presence in Pasadena, Calif., and Atlanta, the company said in a press release Tuesday.

The reductions are expected to cost the company $60 million to $70 million. But it will save EarthLink $25 million to $35 million through the remainder of 2007, … Read more

Dell released preliminary earnings Thursday showing positive signs in its servers unit, but announced it would lay off 10 percent of its workforce over the coming year.

Net income for the quarter ended May 4 totaled $759 million, or 34 cents per share, a slight dip from the same quarter last year, which came in at $762 million and 33 cents per share. The numbers still surpassed Wall Street's expectations of 26 cents per share.

Gross margins grew to $2.8 billion, up from $2.4 billion a year ago, and operating income was down slightly to $947 million … Read more

Faced with an urgent need to cut costs, Advanced Micro Devices laid off 430 workers on Wednesday as it looks to get back on track.

AMD had hinted that layoffs were coming when it acquired ATI Technologies last year, but it has also been struggling in the first half of this year with its main processor business. An ongoing price war with Intel and Intel's renewed competitive position--combined with AMD's own supply chain missteps--have led to heavy losses. AMD was forced to take out $2.2 billion in notes to keep the lights on as it awaits the … Read more

An older Intel flash memory factory in New Mexico will be shut down later this year, and up to 1,000 people could be looking for work as a result.

The plant, one of two factories Intel operates in Rio Rancho, N.M., makes flash memory chips based on 135-nanometer manufacturing technology. Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy told InfoWorld that the company wants to make its flash memory division profitable, and cutting older technology from the ranks is one way to make that happen. Intel and Micron announced last week that they are sampling flash memory chips built using 50-nanometer manufacturing … Read more