LayoffBlog.com

(Russia, Izhevsk) Russian auto maker IZH-Auto plans to cut up to 5,000 jobs in April or about 90% of the company’s workforce after Auto-VAZ abandoned its efforts to acquire IZH-Auto earlier this year.

AutoVAZ (Automaker, Russia), 25% of AutoVAZ owned by Renault [Euronext: RNO]

Facebook Inc., the closely held Internet company that’s reportedly been seeking a fresh round of financing, is parting ways with Chief Financial Officer Gideon Yu.
Facebook spokesman Larry Yu said Gideon Yu’s departure is unrelated to any effort by the company to raise further funds.

Source: MarketWatch

Update (April 1, 2009): Industry Shocked And Angered By Facebook CFO’s Firing. Gideon didn’t get along with Facebook’s top management. Gideon also had an “increasingly strained relationship” with CEO Mark Zuckerberg “over a series of strategic disagreements over a wide range of issues from increasing ad revenue to fundraising discussions with investors.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is quick to push those he disagrees with out of the company. One shared sentiment though is that Mark is a very demanding person to work for, if you screw up, one day you are in, the next day out, persona non grata. Source: CNNMoney

Technologizer.com reports: “Reportedly, Yu left the company immediately after a meeting, symbolistic of Zuckerberg’s apparent “you’re with me or against me” mentality. But the way Facebook framed the departure is troubling”.. “Zuckerberg needs to learn if he wants to take his company public that investors do not like turmoil. The revolving door of executives at Facebook will make investors uneasy, and reluctant to invest in the company.”

According to NYTimes : ” Barclays is in exclusive negotiations with the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners to sell a part of its fund management business, iShares, for about $4.3 billion in an effort to shore up its capital without handing a stake to the government.”

Blake Grossman (CEO of Barclays Global Investors) mentioned today in email that “this potential transaction, along with continued uncertainty in the markets, has made the last few weeks quite challenging for all of us“, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bob Stangarone, vice president of communications with Cessna, says the layoffs will be companywide and affect all pay categories.

The number of layoffs will be announced next month, following the first-quarter report from Cessna’s parent company, Textron Inc., which Stangarone says is expected April 29. The company has already laid off 4,600 workers.

In addition, the company announced a companywide shutdown from July 6 to July 17.

Source: Wichita Business Journal

A distraught Wayland Chevrolet employee who just learned the car dealership was going out of business, may be charged with disorderly conduct after he got into fights allegedly fueled by a “liquid lunch,” Police Chief Dan Miller said today.

One fight, just outside the Wayland Chevrolet dealership’s door, was caught on video when a TV news camera came to do a story on Friday about the dealership revealing it would close that day, putting 30 employees out of work.

Source, video: MLive

According to CNBC, Reuters: “Shares in UBS fell sharply again on Monday as speculation grew the Swiss bank is poised to announce further job cuts and hefty writedowns, including on asset categories that have so far avoided the spotlight.

Swiss newspaper Sonntag said on Sunday that UBS, the world’s largest wealth manager in terms of assets, would cut a further 8,000 jobs and write down at least another $2 billion on illiquid assets.”

~News submitted by upthecreek

After failing to attract a buyer, Gottschalks is headed for liquidation. Gottschalks operates 58 department stores in six western states and has around 5,200 employees.
Source: CBS47

~News submitted by upthecreek

Walgreens and Take Care Health Systems on Tuesday launched an initiative to offer free health care services to all of its current and future patients who lose their jobs after March 31 and have no health insurance.

The Take Care Recovery Plan offer applies to most services currently provided at the Take Care Clinics.
The plan includes treatment of:

• Respiratory Illnesses, such as colds, sinus infections, bronchitis and strep throat.
• Common Conditions, such as seasonal allergies and pink eye.
• Skin Conditions, such as dry skin, poison ivy, minor skin infections and burns.

Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle

“Sun Microsystems is laying off about 1,500 employees this week in a follow-up to a restructuring plan announced a few months ago, the company confirmed Monday.

The cuts include a portion of Sun’s customer-facing staff, including direct sales and professional services employees, according to a research note from Wedge Partners, a financial analyst company. Such a move would make Sun more reliant on channel partners to sell its products.”

Source: IT World

Medical technology company Kinetic Concepts Inc. said Monday it will eliminate 300 jobs as part of a broader cost-cutting effort amid the global economic downturn.

The cuts represent about 4 percent of the company’s work force of just under 7,000. The layoffs will result in a before-tax charge of about $7 million to $10 million in the first quarter, Kinetic said in a release.

Source: AP, Forbes, Kinetic Concepts press-release

According to Bloomberg: ” KLA-Tencor Corp., the second- largest U.S. maker of semiconductor equipment, plans to cut about 10 percent of its global workforce as customers pare back orders.

The cuts, on top of a 15 percent reduction announced in November, are aimed at lowering operating costs to between $140 million and $145 million a quarter by the end of the year, the San Jose, California-based company said today in a statement. KLA-Tencor has 5,500 employees”

Cisco Systems expects $47 billion of the federal stimulus money will be spent on technology.

Cisco’s fair share? About $1 billion, said Cisco’s senior vice president Bruce Klein during a visit to the company’s Research Triangle Park site Friday. Klein, based in Virginia, is responsible for making sure Cisco gets that share of the money.

Businesses like Cisco can’t receive the federal money directly, but only through projects financed by stimulus funds that are paid to local and state agencies. Toward that end, Klein put together nine teams across the company to pore over government documents and identify business opportunities with local governments, school districts, state agencies, university systems and health care organizations.

Source: News & Observer. Thanks anon for the tip.

Lionsgate is believed to be slashing 8% of its workforce in a second round of redundancies after the Santa Monica-based studio cut 41 jobs last November.

The studio did not return calls about the latest cull, which is understood will reduce the headcount by 45 to approximately 500 people.

Source: Screen Daily

Australian mortgage services provider Commonwealth Bank of Australia late Sunday announced that it would cut 400 jobs at its wholly-owned subsidiary Bank of Western Australia Ltd or Bankwest across Australia. The bank cited the deteriorating national and Western Australian economies as well as a high cost base as the reason for implementing these job cuts.

According to Bankwest, around 250 back-office support roles on the west coast and 150 on the east coast will be made redundant this year.

Source: RTTNews

At least 40 Arab Israel Railways workers received pink slips on Sunday, effective the beginning of April. They are losing their jobs after Israel Railways changed its employment terms, and said it would employ only army veterans in the positions these workers held.

The workers serve as lookouts at level crossings, to prevent collisions between trains and vehicles. The job does not involve bearing arms.

Source: Haaretz

According to Reuters: “The board of French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen fired Chief Executive Christian Streiff on Sunday and replaced him with Philippe Varin, who will take up the position on June 1, the company said in a statement.

The decision comes after Peugeot last month posted a 343 million euro ($460 million) net loss and said it expected to stay in the red until 2010.”

Struggling financial services firm Citigroup would lay off even its office cleaners, with about 65 of them are expected to leave the
firm in the next few weeks, media report says.

“Citigroup can no longer afford to keep on the people who clean their offices, apparently,” the New York magazine said in its website.

Quoting Service Employees International Union spokesperson Kwame Patterson, the report said “we got notice about two weeks ago that 65 workers will be laid off within the coming weeks.”

Source: The Economic Times

Seven states posted unemployment rates above 10 percent in February, according to seasonally adjusted figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Michigan registered the nation’s worst rate, with 12 percent of its labor force out of work as of February 2009.

Also in double digits were South Carolina (11 percent), Oregon (10.8 percent), North Carolina (10.7 percent), California (10.5 percent), Rhode Island (10.5 percent), and Nevada (10.1 percent).

Source: Dayton Business Journal

Layoffs forced 283 people out of work [Friday] at Las Vegas Sands Corp. in Las Vegas.

Ron Reese, spokesman for the company, said the affected employees worked in the corporate offices as well as the Venetian and Palazzo resorts on the Strip. He said nearly 7,000 full-time equivalent positions remain in Las Vegas.

Source: Las Vegas Sun

Hundreds of Walt Disney World employees in Florida are being handed pink slips and escorted off the property.

Orlando Business Journal said its broadcast partner, Central Florida News 13, said the layoffs involve from 400 to 800 people, but Disney officials would not confirm the number of people affected. Disney said layoffs are part of the restructuring announced last month.

Source: Pacific Business News