- Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors/News
General Economic News
Municipal News
US and some Canada Layoff News
International News
Hiring News
– Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors & News –
* There’s an old saying involving the correlation between expenditures and profit, but apparently the same “money spending” axiom is also valid while in a struggle to avoid making a pile of cash. This is a lesson that Yahoo learned the hard way, as it coughed up no less than $79 million in order to not take Microsoft’s billions in 2008. According to the Sunnyvale-based company’s Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission the past week, it cost more than just a pretty dollar to stay out of Microsoft’s hands.
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8:30 AM ET10:00 AM ETThe reading suggested to some economists that the decline of the ailing factory sector could be bottoming out, though they expect a recovery is still far in the future.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Monday its manufacturing index actually rose to 35.8 from 35.6 in January. Analysts had expected a drop to 33.8, and a reading below 50 indicates the sector is shrinking.
via The Associated Press: Manufacturing sector contracts again in Feb..
10:00 AM ETThat decline was more than double what Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting.
Residential construction fell 2.9 percent and nonresidential activity dropped 4.3 percent, the biggest decline since January 1994.
via Commerce Department: Construction spending falls 3.3 percent – Phoenix Business Journal: .
* The international trade business is foundering faster than ever seen before, with some U.S. seaports watching cargo traffic fall by more than a third.
It’s gotten so bad that Los Angeles and Long Beach are slashing cargo rates to keep old customers and lure new business. Oakland’s port has laid off 12% of its staff and canceled free tours for the public. The number of ships idled around the world is approaching three times the number that were out of work during the last big ocean trade collapse, in 2002.
via Port cargo levels are sinking fast – Los Angeles Times.
* March 2 (Bloomberg) — Europe’s manufacturingindustry shrank at a record pace in February as export demand collapsed and companies scaled back production.
A gauge of manufacturing activity declined to 33.5 from 34.4 in January, lower than an initial estimate of 33.6 published on Feb. 20. The index is based on a survey of purchasing managers by Markit Economics and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.
* TOKYO (AP) — Japanese auto sales plunged 32.4 percent in February, the biggest monthly drop since 1974 on sinking demand as the global economic downturn deepens, an industry group said Monday.
via Japan auto sales plunge in February – Yahoo! Finance.
* As our economy falters, more Americans are finding themselves among the growing ranks of the unemployed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 10 million people were out of work in October, with more than one-tenth of them age 55 and up.
While no demographic group appears to be immune to the job cuts, older workers tend to face greater obstacles in and returning to the marketplace. According to the AARP, workers age 55 and above are getting pink slips at a faster rate than other age groups, and these workers have to search longer to find new positions.
via Unemployment: opening doors to entrepreneurship – Fort Worth Business Press.
Tom Toles - Mar 1
* The Del Norte County Unified School District Board agreed Thursday evening to send layoff notices to 20 temporary employees.
* Layoff notices will be sent to 65 employees, most of them teachers, decided Marysville Joint Unified School District trustees — one of whom said education spending cuts by the state should start with its student testing.
via District blames state for 65 layoffs | district, unified, school – Local News – Appeal-Democrat.
* But there will be 120 fewer jobs and the division will spend less money on technology, materials and supplies. Salaries will not go up or down. And division personnel on year-round contracts will work four-day weeks over the summer to save on utility costs.
* * LONDON — HSBC Holdings said Monday that it would ask investors for nearly $18 billion in new capital and cut more than 6,000 jobs as it braces for more market turmoil and positions itself for possible acquisitions.
* The British banking group said it planned to raise 12.5 billion pounds (17.8 billion dollars, 14.2 billion euros) and would axe 6,100 jobs in the United States by shutting most of its HFC and Beneficial branches.
*Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. said Friday it will close a South Georgia poultry plant, eliminating 900 jobs.
The layoff was part of broader cost-cutting moves announced by the Pittsburg, Texas-based company, which sought bankruptcy protection in December.
via Pilgrim’s to shutter plant, lay off 900 | ajc.com.
* Bearing maker Timken Co. said Monday it will cut 400 salaried jobs this year, or almost 2 percent of its work force, as it reduces costs to match a slowing market for its products.
* Beaumont Hospitals in Royal Oak is making more cutbacks to help restore profitability this year and counter business lost because of the deepening recession, hospital officials said Friday.
The cutbacks include laying off another 84 workers, most of them nonclinical staff, and asking vendors and suppliers to reduce prices to reverse a $29.5 million operating loss incurred last year.
via Beaumont will cut more staff | detnews.com | The Detroit News.
* SUNNYVALE, Calif. (AP) — Flash memory drive maker Spansion Inc. says it is seeking bankruptcy protection.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said in a statement Sunday it plans to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it attempts to restructure $625 million in senior secured debt under court protection.
via Flash memory company Spansion files for bankruptcy – Yahoo! Finance.
* The U.S. Steel Plant in Ecorse will likely be closed until next winter, leaving 2,000 employees without a paycheck.
Marc Barragan, President of U.S. Steelworkers Local 1299, says his fellow union members knew the plant was closing in January. But they expected it would reopen sometime this spring.
* In another cost-cutting move, Pearl River Resort will eliminate the last shift at the Golden Moon Casino on Sundays, Warren Strain, communications director for the Resort, confirmed late Friday.
So far, about 40 employees had been terminated as of Friday evening and more terminations were expected in what Strain said was a layoff “similar to last time but not as big.”
via Resort plans another smaller layoff .
*The job cuts aren’t immediate, but First Energy has just completed a study which all but guarantees imminent staff reductions.
via 90.3 WCPN ideastream® | First Energy To Cut Some Executive Positions.
* Pacific Ethanol said Friday that it is temporarily closing down its ethanol plants in Burley, Idaho, and Stockton, Calif., leaving only a partially owned plant in Colorado and its Boardman plant along the Columbia River to produce the corn-based fuel.
via Pacific Ethanol closing 2 plants for now – OregonLive.com.
* U. SAUCON TWP. | Olympus Corp. of the Americas announced restructuring Friday that includes an undisclosed number of local job reductions.
Without releasing specific numbers, the company said the cutbacks do not significantly reduce its area work force.
via Olympus Corp. announces local job cuts – lehighvalleylive.com.
* Borders Group, Inc., also says the store’s closing will affect about 100 employees.
via Magnificent Mile Shopping Examiner: Borders to close Mag Mile store.
* The bankrupt Northeast Biofuels ethanol plant near Fulton will layoff 25 of its 57 workers Wednesday, chief executive officer Brian Roach said today.
via Bankrupt ethanol plant announces layoffs in Oswego County – Today – syracuse.com.
* Lydall is consolidating its operations in North Carolina. The move means more than 200 people will lose their jobs.
via WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Lydall Starts Layoffs.
* GAFFNEY, S.C. — Officials at a bearings factory in Gaffney said they are laying off 60 full-time employees.
via Gaffney Bearings Plant Cuts 60 Jobs – News Story – WHNS Greenville.
* Chemical maker A. Schulman (SHLM.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it has withdrawn its fiscal 2009 outlook, as demand levels have not recovered since its fiscal first-quarter.
It also plans to cut 64 jobs and reduce production capacity by 5 percent.
via UPDATE 1-A. Schulman withdraws fiscal ’09 outlook, cuts jobs | Markets | US Markets | Reuters .
* RED DEER, Alta. — Stung by reduced drilling activity in the Canadian oilfield, High Arctic Energy Services Inc. (TSX:HWO) is taking measures to reduce costs through pay cuts and layoffs, and warns it has been unable to meet conditions of a key lending agreement.
The Red Deer, Alta.-based company, which provides drilling and related services to the oil and gas industry in Canada and abroad, says more than 30 office and shop employees were laid off last week.
via The Canadian Press: High Arctic announces layoffs, pay cuts, debt negotiations.
* Deerfield Beach-based automotive company JM Family Enterprises Inc. said today it’s shedding about 500 jobs, including roughly 250 in South Florida as part of a restructuring plan.
* LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Lester Electrical has announced another round of layoffs.
Mike Schukar, president of the Lincoln-based company, says 38 full-time workers were laid off on Thursday.
* March 2 (Bloomberg) — Anglo American Plc’s coal unit, which has closed two mines in Australia this year, will slash a further 650 staff from operations in the country and monitor future production amid a slump in demand.
* THE number of jobs slashed by mining companies in response to the global downturn has moved beyond 10,000, with mining giant Anglo American’s coal unit revealing more than 1000 job cuts in Queensland.
* The company said it would cut 500 jobs in the first four months of 2009, taking the number of job cuts since the start of the fourth-quarter to 1,000 and saving the company 19 million pounds ($26.97 million) in 2009.
* HUNDREDS of jobs are expected to be culled from the broadcasters ITV and Five this week as the industry struggles with collapsed advertising revenue.
ITV is to deliver its full-year results on Wednesday and is expected to cut 500 posts in an efficiency review. Five, owned by RTL, is likely to cut 100 jobs on Thursday – nearly a third of its 350-strong workforce, according to weekend reports. A Five spokesman confirmed the company would be speaking to staff.
via ITV and Five set to cut total of 600 jobs – Scotsman.com News .
* It has already made 40 members of staff redundant and yesterday’s announcement brings the number to almost 100. It is believed administrators are trying to make cuts in an attempt to keep the company ticking over while a buyer is sought.
via Troubled car company makes another 59 redundant – Northampton Chronicle and Echo .
* Wellington, March 2 NZPA – Sealord is seeking to cut 180 land-based jobs in Nelson and is not ruling out the closure of its plant there.
via Sealord To Cut 180 Land-Based Jobs | Business | Guide2.co.nz.
* ST LUKE’S Hospice is facing a £500,000 shortfall as the much-loved city charity becomes the latest casualty of the recession.
Five people have already been made redundant as the credit crunch makes a direct impact on the running of the Turnchapel-based organisation and there are worries that services for terminally ill patients could also be affected.
via St Luke’s Hospice, Turnchapel, Plymouth, axes jobs in cash crisis.
* Whitbread Plc, owner of the Premier Inn budget hotels, said fourth-quarter comparable sales fell as fewer people stayed at its hotels and announced that it cut 600 jobs. The shares dropped as much as 6 percent.
via Bloomberg.com: U.K. & Ireland.
* Danish ingredients group Danisco (DCO.CO) cut its full-year profit expectations on Monday and said it would lay off 200 employees due to lower demand.
via UPDATE 1-Danisco issues profit warning, cuts jobs | Industries | Consumer Goods & Retail | Reuters .
* The impact of the global financial crisis continues to take its toll in the automotive arena, with the announcement today that Melbourne-based Robert Bosch will be axing up to 170 jobs.
* The theme park is hiring 3,000 employees for the 2009 season, which runs April 10-Nov. 1. Positions include security, retail, admissions, entertainment, food services, park services, promotions, lifeguards and rides, Pinkerton said. Pay starts at minimum wage, $8 an hour, depending on position, and the park offers paid training, benefits, flexible schedules and free admission, she said.
via Six Flags planning on hiring 3,000 – MassLive.com.
Mike: More news later in the day…………..
Jeff Stahler - Mar 1
