LayoffBlog.com

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

(Newport, UK) Workers were last night occupying a wind turbine factory for the sixth day in protest at the imminent closure of the plant.
The Danish owners of Vestas Wind Systems factory say the plant will close ‘within days’, with the loss of 525 jobs, because the UK market for turbines is too small.

Source: DailyMail

~News submitted by upthecreek

Mechanical testing systems maker MTS Systems Corp. plans to lay off about 65 employees due to continued weakness in industrial capital spending, and expects more job cuts to be necessary in the fourth quarter.

Source: ATTMoney, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

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

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

Microchip-design software maker Cadence Design Systems Inc (CDNS.O) said it would shed 5 percent of its workforce, or 225 employees, as it targets operating-expense savings of about $30 million.

Source: Reuters

Intuit Inc., the company that makes TurboTax software, said Friday it was laying off 300 employees, or 4 percent of its 8,200-strong work force. Employees were given 60-day notifications.

Source: CNBC, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

The feds are investigating whether Google, Yahoo (YHOO), Apple (AAPL), Genentech (DNA) and other throughout the industry tech companies illegally agreed not to recruit on another’s top talent.

Source: Reuters

Hewlett-Packard Co. will cut another 2% of its work force, on top of the 25,000 it plans to eliminate because of its merger with a giant IT services company. On a conference call Tuesday to discuss the company’s latest fiscal results, HP Chief Executive Mark Hurd said the reductions will take place over the next 12 months.

HP also has reduced employee salaries by 5% on up, and of late has also been reducing the amount of real estate it rents or owns.

Source: CNNMoney, DowJones

(Update 1):  Hewlett-Packard Co. will cut 2 percent of its employees, about 6,400 people. [..] Overall, H-P has about 321,000 workers. It has 4,000 workers in Ireland and plans to add 500 jobs near Dublin, though it also cut some jobs there. It also has a big presence in India. The company employs about 5,000 people in the Sacramento area.

Source: Sacramento BizJournal

Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) will eliminate about 1,500 to 1,800 jobs from its global workforce [of 39,000] by the end of June amid efforts to control costs and manage economic pressures.

Chief Executive William A. Hawkins noted in February some other internal moves designed to control costs, such as a salary freeze that started in the fiscal year that began in late April and plans for a 5% executive pay cut.

Source: CNNMoney

Cisco Systems Inc CEO John Chambers said on Monday that he would stay in his role for at least another 3-5 years, reassuring investors there would be no imminent change in leadership amid a global economic slowdown.
[..]
“I love what I do. I’m going to retire here at Cisco and after that I will teach,” he said. “I intend to stay at Cisco for probably a minimum of three to five more years, assuming I can earn the shareholders’ trust, our employees’ trust, our customers’ trust, and assuming my health holds up.”

Source: Reuters

Seagate announced Thursday that it has initiated a restructuring plan that includes laying off approximately 1,100 employees, or 2.5 percent of the company’s global workforce.

This is the company’s second round of layoffs. The first one was announced in January with about 800 people affected.

Source: CNet News

Hard disk drive and storage company Seagate Technology plans to cut about 1,100 more jobs, or 2.5 percent of its work force. Since the beginning of fiscal year 2009 the company has cut more than a quarter of its people.

Source: San Francisco Business Times

General Electric Co., the world’s biggest maker of power-plant equipment and locomotives, will invest about $100 million to start a new battery business and create at least 350 jobs in northern New York.

Source: Bloomberg

NASA has this week announced plans to significantly scale back its employee numbers ahead of the official retirement of its stalwart fleet of space shuttle vehicles after almost 30 years of service.

According to NASA officials, a total of 900 jobs will be cut over the next five months, with an initial 160 notifications in relation to external contractors responsible for the manufacturing of the shuttle’s fuel tanks and its solid rocket boosters expected to be dispatched on Friday, May 01.

Source: The Tech Herald

Motorola posted a first-quarter net loss of $228 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with a loss of $190 million, or 9 cents a share, a year ago when there were fewer shares. Motorola said it is ahead of schedule in its cost cuts and raised its full-year cost-savings target by $200 million to $1.7 billion.

Source: WSJ

Medtronic Inc. laid off 240 manufacturing workers at its Santa Rosa vascular division today, cutting 20 percent of its Sonoma County work force as it shifts production work to a lower-cost facility in Ireland.

Medtronic has already moved hundreds of Santa Rosa production jobs overseas.

Source: The Press Democrat

According to ComputerWorld: “More layoffs are expected at Sun Microsystems Inc. as a result of Oracle Corp.’s planned $7.4 billion acquisition, with one Wall Street analyst predicting today that as many as 10,000 people could lose their jobs at the Silicon Valley icon.”