LayoffBlog.com

Capgemini Energy LP, which is a venture of TXU Corp. and its subsidiaries and technology outsourcing company Capgemini America Inc., said in a warn letter filed in Austin last week that the company will lay off 85 employees, effective Nov. 1.

The jobs included in the cuts include senior analysts, project managers, test analysts, software engineers and other professional and management positions.

Source: Dallas Business Journal

Indian software industry association Nasscom says the U.S. Congress should consider changing laws to allow foreign workers in the United States for a limited amount of time. The proposed visa would not lead to immigration status or permanent residency.

Read full article: eWeek.com

Fuel Games, developer of iPhone, PC, online, and console games, told Gamasutra that it is cutting staff and is in the midst of restructuring — right after a venture capital injection.

“Last Thursday about 20 people were laid off from the Ottawa office (out of around 100 people), and reportedly the entire staff was told they would not be receiving their paychecks on Friday,” said an ex-Fuel Games employee who wished to remain anonymous.

Source: Gamasutra

Layoffs at IBM total more than 9,000 for the year.
According to leaked copies of the company’s internal “resource action” packages, total verifiable layoffs through Aug. 24 number 9,298.
The company has acknowledged some layoffs, but has steadfastly refused to give details, such as numbers or locations.

Source: Times Herald-Record

Social web site Facebook Inc. is looking for hundreds of people to hire, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report, based on an Aug. 20 interview with Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said the Palo Alto, Calif. company plans to increase its work force by 50 percent this year. The business has about 900 workers right now.

Source: San Francisco Business Times

Tektronix Inc., formerly Oregon’s largest homegrown tech company, on Wednesday said it will shift some manufacturing operations from Beaverton to its Shanghai plant through next year.

In its last annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission prior to its acquisition, the company said that as of May 26, 2007, it employed 4,541. Of those, 1,746 were located outside the United States. The company laid off 150 workers in November.

Source: PortlandBizJournal

Cisco Systems Inc., the largest maker of networking equipment, predicted that revenue will drop for a fourth straight quarter as the recession crimps orders of networking equipment. Revenue will fall 15 percent to 17 percent in the fiscal first quarter, which ends in October, the company said today.

Source: Bloomberg

Microsoft Corp. agreed to hire no less than 400 Yahoo Inc. employees once the companies’ planned Internet search advertising partnership begins, Yahoo said late Tuesday. In addition, Microsoft agreed to pay Yahoo $150 million over three years to help cover Yahoo’s costs in getting the partnership started, Yahoo disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: MarketWatch

BT is cutting its call centre workforce in India by 4,000 and bringing some of the work back to the UK, the telco confirmed.

The company recently topped a poll of UK companies with the worst customer service, with complaints including call waiting times and trouble getting offshore call centre staff to understand English accents.

Source: BusinessWeek

Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from his post on Apple’s board of directors due to what Apple called a conflict of interest.

5 Reasons Schmidt Left Apple Board:

1. Apple’s rejection of Google Voice from the App Store;
2. The iPhone vs. Google Android rivalry is heating up;
3. Let’s not forget Apple’s App Store vs. Android Market;
4. Both Google and Apple are entrenched in the Web browser game;
5. Apple and Google will also soon compete in the OS market, too.

Source: ChannelWeb

Unions have condemned the British Council’s announcement that it intends to cut up to 500 jobs over the next two years and consider offshoring work to India.

In a message to staff issued today, the British Council, which promotes the UK overseas, announced that it intended to reduce its staff by between 400-500 jobs – about one-third of the organisation – over the next two years.

Source: The Sikh Times

So much for the “boatload of money” Carol Bartz wanted from Microsoft in return for a search deal with Yahoo. Instead, Yahoo’s chief executive settled for a deal that wouldn’t fill a bathtub. The transaction involves no cash upfront and gives Microsoft what it has always wanted: effective control over Yahoo’s search business.

Source: WSJ

Reuters: “Yahoo investors disappointed, but hold out hope” [..] “Bartz said on the earnings call the company is now hiring more engineers and sales and marketing staff as it invests in new products and branding.”

Verizon Communications Inc. said Monday it will cut more than 8,000 employee and contractor jobs before the end of the year in the wireline business, speeding up its efforts to keep costs in line, according to chief financial officer John Killian.

Verizon ended the quarter with 235,000 employees, up from 229,000 a year ago, despite already cutting 8,000 jobs during the year. Contractor jobs are not included in those totals.

Source: GoogleNews, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

In the last decade, GE has closed over 15 factories in Ohio and downsized numerous others. Since 1980, employment in GE Lighting has dropped by 68 percent.

A large chunk of that manufacturing has gone to China, and now GE plans to send even more to China in the wake of new clean energy policies.

Source: HuffingtonPost

~News submitted by David

Cisco Systems Inc. laid off several hundred employees on Thursday, as the company tries to control its costs amid declining sales.

Between 600 and 700 people were laid off at the company’s San Jose headquarters, according to a person familiar with the decision.

Source: WSJ

Satyam Computer Services Ltd., now called Mahindra Satyam, is currently not considering any job cuts, Chairman Kiran Karnik said Saturday.

“This is an operational decision for the management to take. At the moment there is nothing before the board,” Mr. Karnik said at the sidelines of an industry event.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Oracle Corp plans to lay off up to 1,000 workers in Europe, or about 1 percent of its global staff, as the recession erodes the giant software company’s earnings, French news agency AFP reported on Thursday.

Source: Reuters

The high-tech industry might finally be hitting rock bottom, according to Forrester Research, which Tuesday forecast global IT spending to decline by nearly 11% in 2009 before vendors and end-user organizations begin to see some signs of recovery later this year and early next.

Source: NetworkWorld

Oracle Corp.’s fiscal fourth-quarter profit declined 7.2% as the stronger dollar continued to weigh on results. New license revenue, a key measure of software growth, dropped 13%. Oracle’s stock has been rebounding since hitting a three-year low in March, shares were up 2.8% to $20.44

Source: WSJ

Yahoo will incur a charge of between $22 million and $27 million for the 700-person workforce reduction that it announced two months ago, according to an SEC filing late Friday. The layoffs accounted for about 5 percent of its workforce. In Q2, it will take a total pre-tax cash charges of between $30 million and $34 million in severance pay expenses and related cash expenditures.

Source: PC