Tag: axe

Intel culls sales and marketing staff

Posted on June 28, 2016 by - News

Bent AxeIntel is ordering its sales and marketing staff to clean out their desks as part of its glorious campaign on restructuring.

In April, Chipzilla announced it would lay off 12,000 employees worldwide saying that there was no more money in this PC lark. It also stopped work on its Atom chip and those working on it were the first to be escorted from the building with their belongings in an old photocopy paper box.

But now sales and marketing in Intel’s distribution channel operation are having to face the music. Ironically a corporate PR person who has not been sacked yet issued a statement saying:

“To support our transformation, we are restructuring our sales organization to drive tighter alignment with Intel’s business units and fuel our growth engines. Customers can expect to see more specialized technical support, faster decision making, and streamlined processes with a strong focus on enabling a consistent and personalized customer experience.”

Still it is early days yet. The cuts are not being completed until the end of the month, so maybe the person who wrote the above comment is still blissfully unaware that there is a corporate axeman waiting in the corridor waiting to pounce.

It looks like regional head offices will be the target. Intel offices will now report direct to the US headquarters rather than to their nearest regional head office. Big processor buyers, such as China-based Lenovo and Taiwan’s Acer, will also deal direct with teams in California from now on

 

Axe falls at the Volehill

Posted on July 18, 2014 by - News

Microsoft campusCorporate axemen have been stalking the corridors of Redmond and have so far claimed the heads of 18,000 employees, in the largest staff cull at Microsoft.

The cuts are the first major change made by Satya Nadella, the company’s new chief executive, who said Microsoft needed to be more nimble and focused.

The job cuts are 14 percent of its work force and most of them will come from the Nokia mobile phone business Microsoft acquired this year.

More than two thirds of the up to 18,000 jobs that Microsoft said it would cut will come from Nokia groups, or from overlap at Microsoft resulting from the deal.

Ironically morale at the Volehill had improved since Nadella took over, which might not have happened if people realised that job cuts were on the table.

Nadella has pledged big changes and make some quick decisions releasing Microsoft’s lucrative Office applications for the iPad. And he departed from past practice at the company by making its Windows operating system free for mobile devices to improve its market share.

But Microsoft has become bureaucratic and slow moving and has nearly double the 127,000 employees it had a decade ago. Apple has 87,000 and half of them in its retail stores.

 

Sophos axes jobs

Posted on April 16, 2013 by - News

axeSophos is rumoured to be grinding the axe for another round of job cuts.

According to The Next Web around 150 people will be handed their pink slips as the company moves to restructure and focus on its highest growing and strategic business arms.

Although Sophos would not confirm the number, it hinted that the rumours were more than a whisper with a spokesman telling the Next Web that it was in discussion with those affected employees. It said some could also be given a lifeline and shifted into other roles.

“While it is difficult to make any reductions in our team, we are confident these actions will help to drive our long-term success, and allow us to drive greater value for our customers and partners,” Sophos said in an earlier statement.

It follows a similar round of job cuts in September last year, when 35 employees were expected to lose their jobs.

The axe grinding comes as Sophos announced job cuts earlier this year.

Logitech axes staff

Posted on March 1, 2013 by - News

axeLogitech’s newly appointed CEO is making his position known, grinding the axe and getting the pink slips ready.

In an announcement today the peripheral company has said that it will be cutting approximately 140 positions, around five percent of its worldwide non-direct-labour workforce.

Bracken P. Darrell, who look over the head honcho job at Logitech last month said the chops were as a result of the company taking on an “organisational alignment” and making “strategic priorities” in a bid to make cost savings of approximately $16 to $18 million in operating costs in Fiscal Year 2014.

These include increasing focus on mobility products, improving profitability in PC-related products and enhancing global operational efficiencies.

The axe wielder said the job cuts would help with the new plan by “delivering additional cost savings that will contribute to improved profitability”.

Logitech is trying to turn around its flagging business which has faced increasing competition from the smartphone and tablet market.

Last month the company also announced that it would be flogging its Harmony remote business unit following a “disappointing quarter”.

BAE sharpens Axe for 3,500 US staff

Posted on February 22, 2013 by - News

axeThe pink slips could once again be rearing their ugly heads.

This time staff at BAE Systems’ US ship maintenance business are reportedly facing job cuts as a result of the government’s military spending cuts.

The British arms producer could reportedly be making 3,500 – around 70 percent – staff redundant as a result of the US’ navy putting a halt on maintenance work on 13 ships. However, according to Bloomberg the cuts could also have a domino affect on on the company’s suppliers.

It has not been a good week for BAE.

Yesterday the company, which employs around 93,500 across the world, announced that it had made a loss in 2012.

Underlying profit fell six percent to £1.89 billion in the year, while pre-tax profits has dropped to £1.4 billion from £1.5 billion.

It was also bad news for sales, which fell seven percent to £17.8 billion from £19.2 billion in 2012, which the company said was a contributing factor in the failure to a merge with European defence firm and Airbus owner EADS.

The company said the losses were as a result of US defence cuts, as well as reduced military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan.

John Lewis culls managers to focus on online

Posted on February 15, 2013 by - News

axeJohn Lewis has become the latest company to wield the axe, announcing that it will be slashing 325 department manager jobs in a bid to focus more on its online growth.

The company, which was hailed by the government as a model of “responsible capitalism” for the whole economy, has made the decision to chop these jobs as it moves to focus on it its online offerings.

It has set up its Retail Revolution’ plan in a bid to ensure it stays ahead of the game and doesn’t end up in the same black administration hole as some of its competitors.

However, this won’t be any consolation to the staff who are set to lose their jobs, in the biggest cut made by the retailer since 2009 when it culled 700 call staff jobs.

Each John Lewis has about 10 department store managers looking after sections such as womenswear, beauty or furnishings. In a bid to cut costs John Lewis is planning to replace these with one or two more senior managers in 28 of its 40 stores.

They have given those in question a month to put their views and proposals forward as to why they should remain at the company before a  90-day constitution in March.

Last month the company hinted that online was where it wanted to be, appointing Mark Lewis as online director. It said at the time it hoped that Mark, who had previously been CEO at Collect+ and spent six years at eBay in roles including UK managing director and European marketplaces director, would continue the growth and development of its online business.