Archive for the ‘Downsizing’ Category

How long do you think it will be, until BofA comes knocking on the Treasury Secretary’s door?

Bank of America Corp said on Thursday it plans to eliminate 30,000 to 35,000 jobs over three years after it completes its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co.

The cuts could affect about 11 percent of the combined companies’ roughly 308,000-person workforce. Bank of America employs about 247,000 people and Merrill about 61,000.

Bank of America said the expected cuts reflect the pending merger, as well as “the weak economic environment, which is affecting the level of business activity.”

I knew I should have invested in that tin cup business a while back.

Twice in four years? Wasn’t the first bankruptcy sign enough that their business model sucked?

In another sign of the grim holiday season, KB Toys filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in four years on Thursday and plans to begin going-out-of business sales at its stores immediately.

The 86-year-old company said in a filing that its debt is “directly attributable to a sudden and sharp decline in consumer sales” because of the poor economy.

I guess they had to learn the hard way.

I’m sure many people will attribute these closings to the “state of the economy”, but in reality, shouldn’t these companies be closing underperforming stores or doing something else to increase sales from them?

Office Depot on Wednesday said it will close 112 underperforming retail stores in North America during the next three months.

The announcement said the closures would occur in various geographic regions, including 45 in the central U.S., 40 in the Northeast and Canada, 19 in the West and eight in the South. Fourteen more stores would be closed through 2009 as leases expire or other lease arrangements are finalized.

It’s just common sense to be doing that anyway, why should the current state of the economy have anything to do with it?

While financial analysts keep a close eye on Washington, there is bad news for chicken lovers everywhere.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp (PPC.N), the largest U.S. chicken company, said on Monday it filed for voluntary bankruptcy protection after struggling with high feed costs and low meat prices.

The company said it intends to continue operating normally while it develops a reorganization plan.

Analysts had predicted a bankruptcy filing was possible for Pilgrim’s Pride, which produces about a quarter of the nation’s chicken.

In addition to high feed costs, the company has been hurt by its debt obligations, much of which were due to the acquisition in late 2006 of smaller rival Gold Kist Inc.

They intend to continue normal operations, which is bad news for the chickens as well.

If you were depending on a delivery service that didn’t leave items at your door without knocking, or require your delivery be dropped at a local business, you’re going to be sad today.

German logistics giant Deutsche Post announced Monday it would cut 9,500 jobs at its DHL Express operations in the United States.

Chief Executive Officer Frank Appel said DHL’s domestic air and ground business in the United States would be closed effective Jan. 30.

Unless you are expecting a package from overseas (or shipping one) you aren’t going to see the DHL truck pull up in your driveway anymore.

It’s a shame too, because the DHL guys who have delivered stuff to our house are much more polite with said deliveries, oh, and they don’t leave packages worth hundreds of dollars sitting on my porch without ringing the doorbell).

Save the economy, screw your employees. Fair trade, right?

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) could cut as many as 4,000 of its own employees worldwide as the bank prepares to take on staff from Bear Stearns Cos (BSC.N) at the same time it deals with turmoil in financial markets, people familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

In addition to roughly 2,000 JPMorgan employees who will be replaced by counterparts acquired through its takeover of Bear Stearns, the sources said that an additional 1,000 to 2,000 JPMorgan employees may lose their jobs because of the slowdown in investment banking activity and credit market crisis.

I think we all knew that job cuts would be coming somewhere along the line of this merger. Funny how it’s happening to the JPMorgan employees though huh?

– Powered By Stuffr! –

Wow, now you know it’s getting bad…

How bad is the housing market? Bad enough that a cash-strapped builders’ group is forced to sell its own home.

Three years after moving into its posh, new $3.5 million headquarters, the Home & Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids is putting the building up for sale.

Chief Executive Judy Barnes said the association is hampered by the weak economy, a sluggish residential building industry and declining membership. The setbacks have resulted in some pledges made toward paying for construction of the 15,000-square-foot headquarters going unfulfilled.

The association spent $1.5 million of its own money on the building. The remainder was to be covered by donations and the sale of its previous headquarters.

Barnes declined to release the amount still owed on the new building but said the association was not in financial trouble.

If they are “not in financial trouble”, why is the association being “forced to sell it’s own home”? I think we can all see the writing on the wall. Too bad we can’t believe what we see on the wall either.

– Powered By Stuffr! –

How many times can Ford cut production before they stop making cars?

Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on Monday it would eliminate shifts at four U.S. plants and lay off some 2,500 workers — or almost 5 percent of its remaining work force — as part of an effort to cut costs and return to profitability next year.

The layoffs come at a time when the No. 2 U.S. automaker is offering buyouts and early retirement incentives to all 54,000 of its U.S. factory workers as it attempts to recover from a $2.7 billion loss in 2007.

Ford said it would run its Chicago and Louisville, Kentucky, assembly plants on one shift rather than the current two shifts starting this summer.

They cut almost 34,000 workers in 2006. They are offering early retirement to 54,000 more employees, and they’re trying to bribe even more to leave. What are they going to do if everyone decides to take the incentives? That certainly won’t save any money.

– Powered By Stuffr! –

Is it any surprise that investment firms that deal with mortgages are still cutting back? As more and more homeowners default on their mortgage and more of them enter foreclosure, it’s only logical that more and more brokers and such would be laid off.

Morgan Stanley (MS.N) will slash 1,000 jobs, scale back its U.S. home-lending business and shut down a British mortgage unit as new management takes a hard look at the continued deterioration in mortgage markets.

The cuts announced on Wednesday affect Morgan Stanley employees who generate home loans through brokers and other third parties, as well as bankers who packaged these loans into bonds. The bank declined to detail cuts for specific areas.

Including the latest moves, Morgan Stanley has laid off 2,900 people in mortgages, wealth management, investment banking and capital markets since October. That’s 6 percent of Morgan Stanley’s 48,256 employees at the end of November.

Once the market for mortgage-backed securities picks up again, I’m sure things will look different, but until then, we’re going to see more of these cuts, and I’m pretty sure this is still just the tip of the iceberg.

– Powered By Stuffr! –

First it was Ford, now GM is going to offer buyouts to all of their union employees.

General Motors Corp (GM.N) said on Tuesday it would offer buyouts or early retirement to all of its U.S. hourly union workers, and expects the lackluster North American market to rebound in the second half of 2008.

The top U.S. automaker posted a quarterly loss reflecting a slump in its North American market, but analysts were encouraged that the sweeping deal with the United Auto Workers covering 74,000 workers would cut labor costs more aggressively than expected.

I know the risk of getting laid off is higher, but would you really want to take a buyout offer if you knew there wasn’t a chance you were going to get another job after this one, at least for a while anyway?

Oh sure, it’s a great deal for people who were planning to retire anyway, but the rest of them would be crazy to take the deal, wouldn’t they?

– Powered By Stuffr! –