layoffs

Microsoft on Wednesday began cutting a small number of jobs from its workforce, a source confirmed to CNET.

As previously reported, the layoffs are not expected to be the start of mass cuts, but are more similar to the types of reshuffling that the company does each year as it begins a new fiscal year. Microsoft started fiscal 2011 on July 1.

Microsoft has declined to comment on the cuts or say how many jobs are affected. However, a source told CNET that, even with the cuts, the company still expects to grow its ranks overall this year as it … Read more

Microsoft may eliminate some jobs as it begins a new fiscal year, however the company is not expected to undergo massive layoffs along the lines of what it did last year, when thousands of jobs were eliminated, according to a source.

The cuts currently being considered are along the lines of the company's historical pattern, in which it undergoes a yearly reshuffling that sometimes results in jobs being cut in some areas at the same time new positions are added in other areas, the source told CNET.

After shedding jobs last year, Microsoft added around 1,800 jobs in … Read more

I'm not quite sure, but make no mistake Hewlett-Packard has cut some former Palm staffers from its ranks as it closes its acquisition of the smartphone maker. I'm hearing different numbers from sources (once) close to the company, so it's difficult to put a firm number on them. Sounds like it's not too, too many though. Double digits, not hundreds. Still: sad and awful.

"Part of the integration strategy is consolidation of functions and operations, as appropriate," a spokesman for the company told me. "There always is turnover in organizations. Palm employees overall … Read more

Linden Lab, the San Francisco-based company that manufactures virtual world Second Life, announced on Wednesday that it's going through a "strategic restructuring" that will see about 30 percent of its employees laid off. The company is combining its engineering and product divisions into a single unit, among a few other structural modifications like an overhaul of Linden Lab's customer service team.

"We've emerged from a two-year investment period during which, among other things, we've spent a considerable amount of time improving reliability and the overall user experience," said CEO Mark Kingdon, who … Read more

One month after an executive shakeup that saw the departure of CEO Jay Adelson, social-news site Digg announced that it is laying off around 10 percent of its employees. That amounts, most likely, to fewer than a dozen people.

"This is one of the hardest decisions we've had to make recently but we strongly believe that it is the right decision for the long-term health of the company," founder Kevin Rose, who took over for Adelson, said in an e-mail to employees that was subsequently posted to the company blog. "In order to achieve our goals, … Read more

Uh-oh. Just a month after Gina Bianchini, co-founder of build-a-social-network service Ning, departed the company, it's cutting 40 percent of its staff and axing its free, ad-supported service.

Bianchini had co-founded Ning with Valley legend Marc Andreessen, and it had raised $119 million in venture capital, including a whopping $60 million round in early 2008 that Andreessen famously characterized as a stockpile for the "nuclear winter" that would help get it through the economic recession.

Jason Rosenthal, the Ning COO who took over as CEO from Bianchini, sent an e-mail memo to company staffers on Thursday that … Read more

Though the market for tech companies is supposedly starting to improve, at least one software developer is still struggling.

Business software maker CA is planning to cut 1,000 jobs, about 8 percent of its staff, in an effort to trim costs and become leaner, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Formerly known as Computer Associates, Islandia, N.Y.-based CA will also close, consolidate, and merge certain offices as part of its cost savings strategy.

As a result, the company expects to spend around $47 million before taxes in the fourth quarter on severance … Read more

Apple has cut some staff working on its Final Cut video editing software suite, according to a report by a video industry insider.

"Apple laid off 40 of my old Final Cut team yesterday, lots of good people, despite high profits," said Pete Warden in a tweet last week. Warden, a data-mining former Apple employee who writes plug-ins for Adobe Systems' After Effects video software, also noted the cuts on his blog.

The tweet surfaced at Rich Young's AE Portal News blog, which deals with After Effects.

Apple declined to comment on the matter.

With successful products … Read more

Ericsson it is cutting 1,500 jobs from among its 80,000 global employees, the wireless equipment maker said Monday.

The company reported on Friday a huge downturn in fourth quarter and full-year 2009 earnings. For the quarter ended December, Ericsson saw its net earnings plummet 92 percent to 314 million million kronor ($43.4 million dollars), compared with the year-ago quarter. Sales dropped 13 percent to 58.3 billion kronor from the year-ago quarter.

For all of 2009, Ericsson's earnings were down 67 percent to 3.7 billion kronor ($512 million). Annual sales survived, though, falling only 1 … Read more