Canadian plane maker Bombardier, which is the third largest aircraft company in the world, on Thursday joined giant Boeing in axing 3,000 jobs worldwide citing sagging demand for its business jets.
Boeing has already announced to lay off 10,000 staff as the global downturn takes toll on the aviation sector.
Surprisingly, job cuts at the Montreal-based Bombardier came the day the company reported higher profits and revenue for the fiscal year 2009. But "there is no doubt that we are going through challenging times and our business environment is changing fast," said Bombardier CEO Pierre Beaudoin in a statement.
"However, we believe we are well positioned to face this difficult economic environment with a strong balance sheet, high level of liquidity as well as a large and diversified backlog, both by product and geographies," he added.
Thursday's job cuts, which account for 10 per cent of the company's total workforce, are in addition to 1,360 jobs it eliminated in February after fall in demand for its Learjet and Challenger aircraft, the Bombardier statement said.
Apart from eliminating hundreds of positions in Canada, the latest job cuts will also affect the company's facilities in the US, Mexico and Northern Ireland, the statement said.
With companies avoiding buying of corporate jets amid the global downturn, Bombardier said it expected to sell 25 per cent less business aircraft in the current fiscal year.
In its annual fiscal report Thursday, Bombardier posted a net income of $1 billion for the fiscal year 2009 ending January 31 - up from $317 million during the previous year.
The company earned a total revenue of $19.7 billion in 2009, compared to $17.5 billion in fiscal year 2008.
However, despite its strong financial showing, the company said its sales were slipping, forcing it to scale back its operations and axe jobs.
Agencies
Showing posts with label cutting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cutting. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Is UBS cutting 5,000 management jobs?
Switzerland's biggest bank UBS plans to cut up to 5,000 senior and management jobs in the next few weeks, a media report said on Sunday.
The report said that according to its own research up to 2,500 management positions could go in UBS's dominant and profitable wealth management division, which accounts for 50,000 of the bank's total 77,000 staff.
A UBS spokesman declined to comment on the report. UBS said last week that it was restructuring its Swiss business structure into four regions from eight, and trimming its top management. But it said the changes did not mean any more job cuts than the 600 to 800 positions it already planned to cut in Switzerland as part of the thousands of job losses globally it had already announced.
UBS said in February that after a record loss it would cut 2,000 jobs to take staff to about 75,000 by the middle of this year.
UBS is struggling to rebuild its once powerful brand and focus on its core Swiss business after massive investments in risky US assets forced it to make more writedowns than any other European bank and accept government backing.
Agencies
The report said that according to its own research up to 2,500 management positions could go in UBS's dominant and profitable wealth management division, which accounts for 50,000 of the bank's total 77,000 staff.
A UBS spokesman declined to comment on the report. UBS said last week that it was restructuring its Swiss business structure into four regions from eight, and trimming its top management. But it said the changes did not mean any more job cuts than the 600 to 800 positions it already planned to cut in Switzerland as part of the thousands of job losses globally it had already announced.
UBS said in February that after a record loss it would cut 2,000 jobs to take staff to about 75,000 by the middle of this year.
UBS is struggling to rebuild its once powerful brand and focus on its core Swiss business after massive investments in risky US assets forced it to make more writedowns than any other European bank and accept government backing.
Agencies
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Intel invests big in US; Just as others cut costs
Chip giant Intel is swimming against the tide. At a time when most of the companies are cutting back on their expenses in the U.S., Intel is investing massively in that country. The company on February 10 announced plans to invest $7 billion over the next two years to expand and transform three U.S. manufacturing plants. With this initiative, Intel aims to outpace rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in its core PC business, reported BusinessWeek.
The company plans to begin shipping in volume the world's first microprocessors created at the atomic 32-nanometer level-transistors so small that 4 million of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence, as early as this fall. Intel plans to begin retooling chipmaking plants in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, where a total of 7,000 people will be employed.
By shifting to a more efficient manufacturing process, Intel hopes to sell chips to consumer electronics, cell phones, and other Internet-connected devices. Such chips could substantially lower development costs for Nokia (NOK), Samsung, Sony (SNE), and other manufacturers struggling to outdo each other with cutting-edge TVs, phones, and other devices.
"We're investing in America to keep Intel and our nation at the forefront of innovation," said Intel CEO Paul S. Otellini. "The chips that the new fabs produce will become the basic building blocks of the digital world, generating economic returns far beyond our industry," he added.
Intel executives had been signaling for weeks that the chipmaker remained on track to spend $5.2 billion, or roughly the same as it spent on capital improvements in 2008, to move to the 32-nanometer manufacturing process.
Agencies
The company plans to begin shipping in volume the world's first microprocessors created at the atomic 32-nanometer level-transistors so small that 4 million of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence, as early as this fall. Intel plans to begin retooling chipmaking plants in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, where a total of 7,000 people will be employed.
By shifting to a more efficient manufacturing process, Intel hopes to sell chips to consumer electronics, cell phones, and other Internet-connected devices. Such chips could substantially lower development costs for Nokia (NOK), Samsung, Sony (SNE), and other manufacturers struggling to outdo each other with cutting-edge TVs, phones, and other devices.
"We're investing in America to keep Intel and our nation at the forefront of innovation," said Intel CEO Paul S. Otellini. "The chips that the new fabs produce will become the basic building blocks of the digital world, generating economic returns far beyond our industry," he added.
Intel executives had been signaling for weeks that the chipmaker remained on track to spend $5.2 billion, or roughly the same as it spent on capital improvements in 2008, to move to the 32-nanometer manufacturing process.
Agencies
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Panasonic to layoff 15,000 jobs, closing 27 plants
Japan's Panasonic Corp. said Wednesday it was cutting 15,000 jobs and closing 27 plants worldwide as it braces for a big loss this due to the economic crisis.
Agencies
Agencies
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Toyota considers layoff of 1,000 full-time jobs
Toyota Motor Corp is considering cutting more than 1,000 full-time jobs in North America and the United Kingdom to cope with faltering global demand, a news report said on Friday.
The details of the job cuts will likely be finalised by the end of the month, said the Nikkei, Japan's top business daily, citing an unnamed senior company official. Japan's top automaker could slash more jobs in other regions if global auto sales continue to slump, the daily said.
Toyota spokesman Yuta Kaga declined to confirm the report, saying nothing had been decided.
Mike Goss, a spokesman for Toyota's North American manufacturing operations, said Toyota is considering "additional steps" after making several production adjustments in recent months, but no decisions have been finalised.
"Current business conditions are not forcing us to make involuntary reductions of Toyota team members," he said in a written statement.
Hit by the collapse in demand for cars, Toyota is expecting to incur its first operating loss in 70 years. The company on Tuesday tapped Akio Toyoda, grandson of the Japanese automaker's founder, as president, paying homage to its roots amid a deepening global downturn.
The US-educated Toyoda, 52, is the first founding family member to take the helm at the Japanese auto giant in 14 years.
Like other Japanese automakers, Toyota has been reducing temporary workers at its auto plants in Japan to curb production amid the global recession.
Harley said its fourth-quarter profit fell 58 per cent to $77.8 million, or 34 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with $186.1 million, or 78 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.
Revenue fell 6.8 per cent to $1.29 billion from $1.39 billion in the year-ago quarter.
The results fell short of Wall Street estimates. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected 57 cents per share on sales of $1.29 billion, on average.
Harley said its financial-services division swung to an operating loss of $24.9 million in fourth quarter, hurt by write-downs totaling $63.5 million. The company said it is evaluating ``a range of options'' to provide funding for the ailing Harley-Davidson Financial Services. Many analysts have suggested the lending unit may have to be sold because it has been unable to unload its debt in the financial markets.
For the full year, Harley said its earnings fell 30 per cent to $654.7 million, or $2.79 per share, from $933.8 million, or $3.74 per share, in the same quarter last year. Sales fell 2.3 per cent to $5.59 billion from $5.73 billion in 2007.
Analysts expected $3.02 per share on sales of $5.61 billion in revenue for the year. Harley said it would not provide earnings guidance for 2009, but analysts call for $2.15 per share.
Agencies
The details of the job cuts will likely be finalised by the end of the month, said the Nikkei, Japan's top business daily, citing an unnamed senior company official. Japan's top automaker could slash more jobs in other regions if global auto sales continue to slump, the daily said.
Toyota spokesman Yuta Kaga declined to confirm the report, saying nothing had been decided.
Mike Goss, a spokesman for Toyota's North American manufacturing operations, said Toyota is considering "additional steps" after making several production adjustments in recent months, but no decisions have been finalised.
"Current business conditions are not forcing us to make involuntary reductions of Toyota team members," he said in a written statement.
Hit by the collapse in demand for cars, Toyota is expecting to incur its first operating loss in 70 years. The company on Tuesday tapped Akio Toyoda, grandson of the Japanese automaker's founder, as president, paying homage to its roots amid a deepening global downturn.
The US-educated Toyoda, 52, is the first founding family member to take the helm at the Japanese auto giant in 14 years.
Like other Japanese automakers, Toyota has been reducing temporary workers at its auto plants in Japan to curb production amid the global recession.
Harley said its fourth-quarter profit fell 58 per cent to $77.8 million, or 34 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with $186.1 million, or 78 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.
Revenue fell 6.8 per cent to $1.29 billion from $1.39 billion in the year-ago quarter.
The results fell short of Wall Street estimates. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected 57 cents per share on sales of $1.29 billion, on average.
Harley said its financial-services division swung to an operating loss of $24.9 million in fourth quarter, hurt by write-downs totaling $63.5 million. The company said it is evaluating ``a range of options'' to provide funding for the ailing Harley-Davidson Financial Services. Many analysts have suggested the lending unit may have to be sold because it has been unable to unload its debt in the financial markets.
For the full year, Harley said its earnings fell 30 per cent to $654.7 million, or $2.79 per share, from $933.8 million, or $3.74 per share, in the same quarter last year. Sales fell 2.3 per cent to $5.59 billion from $5.73 billion in 2007.
Analysts expected $3.02 per share on sales of $5.61 billion in revenue for the year. Harley said it would not provide earnings guidance for 2009, but analysts call for $2.15 per share.
Agencies
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Here is how Google is cutting costs!
Feeling the pinch of the global economic slowdown and the US recession in particular, Google, the Internet search engine giant, is resorting to austerity measures, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Prominent among them include cutting new projects, ratcheting back spending, chipping away at perks and reducing employee strength. Such measure from Google, which is known for its generous perks, has come as a surprise to many industry watchers.
The latest Google measures are understandable as its revenue growth has slowed down dramatically over the past one year.
“We have to behave as though we don't know what's going to happen,” Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was quoted as saying by The Wall Street Journal.
The company will curtail the “dark matter,” Schmidt said, projects that “haven't really caught on” and “aren't really that exciting.”
Schmidt said the company is “not going to give” an engineer 20 people to work with on certain experimental projects anymore. Popular social networking site Orkut was a product of this experiment by Google. Schmidt, however, promised to get this back when things improve.
Google executives had started preparing for the slowdown about a year ago, but things have now accelerated. In recent weeks, Schmidt has held meetings with top executives to determine where to focus investment more narrowly, the Journal said.
Top priorities include display ads, which use graphics and appear on Web pages; advertising on mobile phones; and the company's online business software.
Schmidt says the company is shifting more engineering and sales resources to those areas, and away from less-promising projects. Teams on projects the company is merely "fiddling with," he says, will get "naturally smaller as people get plucked off,” the report said.
The Wall Street Journal said the financial crisis has created a new sense of urgency within the company. Top executives say they remain committed to projects they believe hold long-term potential, but are prepared to “starve” lesser ones.
Prominent among them include cutting new projects, ratcheting back spending, chipping away at perks and reducing employee strength. Such measure from Google, which is known for its generous perks, has come as a surprise to many industry watchers.
The latest Google measures are understandable as its revenue growth has slowed down dramatically over the past one year.
“We have to behave as though we don't know what's going to happen,” Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was quoted as saying by The Wall Street Journal.
The company will curtail the “dark matter,” Schmidt said, projects that “haven't really caught on” and “aren't really that exciting.”
Schmidt said the company is “not going to give” an engineer 20 people to work with on certain experimental projects anymore. Popular social networking site Orkut was a product of this experiment by Google. Schmidt, however, promised to get this back when things improve.
Google executives had started preparing for the slowdown about a year ago, but things have now accelerated. In recent weeks, Schmidt has held meetings with top executives to determine where to focus investment more narrowly, the Journal said.
Top priorities include display ads, which use graphics and appear on Web pages; advertising on mobile phones; and the company's online business software.
Schmidt says the company is shifting more engineering and sales resources to those areas, and away from less-promising projects. Teams on projects the company is merely "fiddling with," he says, will get "naturally smaller as people get plucked off,” the report said.
The Wall Street Journal said the financial crisis has created a new sense of urgency within the company. Top executives say they remain committed to projects they believe hold long-term potential, but are prepared to “starve” lesser ones.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)