Today’s Hot Layoff Topics

• Oracle layoff news
  
  • Oracle layoff discussion thread [updated daily, (Hot)]

• Cisco layoff news
  • Rumor: Cisco Systems to lay off IT contractors [updated daily, (Hot) discussion thread]
  • [Update 02-25-2009] Rumor: “1800 More just got laid off at Cisco”; Layoff in progress at San Jose, CA, Austin, TX

• Apple layoff news
  • Sources confirm Apple laid off salespeople last week [discussion thread]
  • Rumor: Layoffs finally came to Apple? [discussion thread, poll]

• Microsoft layoff news
  • Microsoft layoffs today [2-10-2009 update: Next layoff round: 872 in March]
    
  • [2-23-2009 update:] Microsoft: Laid-off can keep extra pay after all
• H1B layoff news
  • U.S. announces arrests in several states alleging H1B visa fraud [Discussion thread]
  • Indian Firms, Microsoft Top H-1B List [Discussion thread]
• IBM layoff news, discussion
  • Mass Layoffs at IBM in January 2009 [1-26-2009 update: More possible layoffs reported]
  • (New) [Update 03-25-2009] IBM to Cut 5,000 U.S. Jobs, Shifting Work to India, [ discussion ]

• Texas Instruments Layoff news [updated 1-26-2009]

• LPL Financial Layoff news [updated 1-29-2009], discussion thread
  

• California Mass Layoffs [update: 2-19-2009: news, comments, discussion thread]

• AIG; Bonuses, Bail-out Money (New), (WTF)
  • Bailed-out AIG Pays Out Hundreds of Millions Billions in Bonuses

• Kaiser Permanente Layoffs (New)

Tags: Oracle | IBM | Microsoft | Cisco | AIG | Apple | H1B

Microsoft sends second wave of layoff notices to 3,000

Microsoft on Tuesday notified more than 3,000 workers that it was eliminating their jobs.

The software maker said in January that it would cut up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months. It made 1,400 cuts at the time. With the second wave of notifications on Tuesday, Microsoft has cut nearly all 5,000 jobs already.

Source: CNet News

Chrysler Files for Bankruptcy to Seal Fiat Accord

Chrysler LLC, the automaker that survived a near-death experience in 1979, filed today for bankruptcy protection to streamline operations and shed debt in a reorganization that includes Italy’s Fiat SpA as a partner.

“Bankruptcy could do a lot of good for Chrysler” by allowing it to “shrink down to the size it needs” quickly, said Stephen Lubben, who teaches bankruptcy-law at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey.

Source: Bloomberg

Level 3 Sales Fall Short; Company Plans 150 Job Cuts

Level 3 Communications Inc., the money-losing U.S. phone operator, posted first-quarter sales that missed analysts’ estimates and said it plans to cut 150 jobs this quarter, sending the stock down 14 percent.

The recession is forcing customers to disconnect lines, and “revenue pressure” will continue this quarter, Chief Financial Officer Sunit Patel said in a statement. The company, which cut more than 1,400 jobs last year, swung back to a loss after reporting its first profit since 2003 in the previous quarter.

Source: Bloomberg

GM to cut 21,000 jobs, scrap Pontiac brand

General Motors Corp. will cut an additional 7,000 to 8,000 factory jobs in the United States, kill the Pontiac brand and shed 2,600 dealers by 2010 under a revised business plan developed with the Obama administration and announced today.

The new job cuts bring the total number of hourly jobs eliminated under GM’s plan to 21,000. GM said additional cuts among salaried workers would be expected, but did not give a specific target.

Source: Detroit Free Press

Health insurance subsidy for laid-off workers has holes

A new federal subsidy designed to help laid-off workers pay for health insurance could be out of reach for thousands of jobless workers because they worked for a small company or their former employer has gone out of business.

If an employer terminates its group health plan, former employees are ineligible for COBRA, says Michael Langan, principal with Towers Perrin, a human resources consultant. That makes them ineligible for the subsidy, too, he says.

Source: USA Today

Freddie Mac acting CFO found dead in apparent suicide

David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in an apparent suicide, according to published reports.

His death comes as staff from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department have been probing the finance company about issues including possible accounting violations, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Source: MarketWatch

Wal-Mart China management restructuring hits snag

Wal-Mart Inc’s plan to eliminate jobs at its China unit has met with resistance from the up to 1,400 workers involved, the U.S. retailer said on Tuesday.

The company, which has 147 outlets in China and employs over 50,000, is removing a layer of management in its stores, leaving affected employees the option of taking a lower position with lower pay, said a company spokesman.

Wal-Mart is offering the employees the option of moving to a new store but for some people it is difficult to move. It is unknown how many people had accepted the company’s offer but a company spokesman said that negotiations had been going on for several months to find a solution.

Source: Reuters

Yahoo to cut 5% of workforce amid revenue drop

Internet search company Yahoo Inc. announced Tuesday that it would slash 5% of its workforce as it reported a first-quarter profit that fell sharply from a year earlier but still managed to beat Wall Street’s forecasts.

The company said that the employees being affected in this latest round of cuts would be notified within the next two weeks. Last year, the company cut about 700 jobs on a net basis.

Source: CNNMoney

Yahoo to cut 5% of workforce amid revenue drop

Internet search company Yahoo Inc. announced Tuesday that it would slash 5% of its workforce as it reported a first-quarter profit that fell sharply from a year earlier but still managed to beat Wall Street’s forecasts.

The company said that the employees being affected in this latest round of cuts would be notified within the next two weeks. Last year, the company cut about 700 jobs on a net basis.

Source: CNNMoney

Yahoo likely to see earnings drop; job cuts possible

Yahoo Inc. is expected to posts declines in both profits and sales when it reports first-quarter results after the market’s close on Tuesday, though investors may be more keen on hearing more about the company’s reported plans for trimming more staff as part of an ongoing restructuring.

Last week, the New York Times reported that “several hundred” employees could be affected by the job cuts, which could be announced alongside Yahoo’s earnings report.

Source: MarketWatch

More Microsoft job cuts rumored

More jobs could be cut at Microsoft Corp., according to a prominent analyst who covers the company.

Sid Parakh of McAdams Wright Ragen brokerage in Seattle said Monday in a note to investors that “over the last week, we have heard from multiple sources that Microsoft may engage in additional restructuring activities in the near-to-mid term.”

Source: Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

Laid-off mother claims Lotto jackpot

A mother of 3 who lost her job last year in the hard-hit northern Indiana city of Elkhart is collecting $1.9 million from a Hoosier Lotto jackpot.

Shantay Britman, 35, of Elkhart said she was due to start a job next month but instead will take the summer off before resuming classes toward a general studies degree at Indiana University-South Bend.

Source: Fox28, Chicago Tribune

California will be starved for college-educated workers to fill available jobs

Even though the economy has taken a nose dive and job hunters are out in force, researchers say that by 2025 California will be starved for college-educated workers to fill available jobs.

In fact, the state will need about a million more college-educated workers than it’s expected to have – a shortage that will lead to a lower standard of living in California and more people needing social services, according to a new report by the Public Policy Institute of California.

The report predicts that 41 percent of workers will need a college diploma (4 in 10 jobs will require one), but only 35 percent of working-age adults will have the necessary degree.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Sony Ericsson to cut 2,000 jobs after losses

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson on Friday said it would cut 2,000 more jobs after it swung to a loss of 293 million euros (384 million dollars) in the first quarter of the year.

“The additional cost saving programme announced today will include a further reduction in the global workforce of approximately 2,000 people,” the company said in a statement.

Source: AFP

Toshiba to cut 3,900 jobs as big loss looms

Toshiba Corp. on Friday announced 3,900 more job cuts and predicted a record annual loss as the economic downturn continues to take a heavy toll on Japan’s high-tech giants.

Toshiba had already laid off 4,500 temporary workers in the last financial year to March as Japan’s recession deepened and exports slumped.

Source: AFP