The Layoff Spectrum - No One Spared

Layoffs are here, and they're here to stay. The surprising thing is how many supposedly (at least to me) well-performing companies are also having to lay off staff.



Nike - Nike is doing very well, thank you, with their stable of highly paid stars selling the socks off the competition. Really, how many other shoe ads do you see nowadays? And Nike is better positioned than most, since it is highly diversified throughout the sports arena - shoes, clothes, sports equipment (rackets, balls, bats), related gear.
It doesn't matter. Nike is laying off 5% of their global staff. And surprisingly, the jobs are not just mostly in the higher-wage countries - China is coming in for a high proportion of manufacturing job losses.



Miami Heat - The Heat were not expected to compete this year... or get any audience worth mentioning. But an MVP-caliber year by the NBA's scoring leader (Dwayne Wade), two highly touted rookies, and a surprise 5th seed in the playoffs capped by a 7-game first round series boosted the Heat's revenues well beyond any reasonable projections.
No matter - the Heat are also going through a round of layoffs.

Signs of a Downturn - Upheaval at Tesla

What's new at Tesla?  5 items, apparently -

1. Elon Musk has kicked out Ze'ev Drori and become CEO himself.  Drori, of course, was brought in by Elon and his gang after they kicked out founder Martin Eberhard.  These are, of course, all signs of a stable company.  Want some more signs of stability?

2. There are rumors that Tesla is looking for another $100 Million in financing.  This is a complete rumor, so lets not think too much about this.  After all, Tesla is very stable, as shown by...

3. They're about to have layoffs.  Ooh.  That isn't good.  As I had written earlier, these are the same guys who were about to open a new manufacturing plant in San Jose.  I'm not sure what's going to happen to those plans (although they are going to rely on funding from the Governator and others for that).   Per Valleywag, a tipster says about half the staff is going to be asked to leave, but company officials are begging to differ.

4. But in another ominous sign, their proposed engineering center in Detroit now seems to be gone.  Hmm.  That is sounding a little less stable.  So maybe this helps...

5. Tesla's Model S Sedan seems to have been delayed.  Indications are that it will launch mid-2011.... which sounds like never. 

Well, hopefully the girdle tightening helps Tesla survive and thrive. 

Signs of a Downturn - Gawker Media, Valleywag

In yet another sign of the times, Nick Denton of Gawker Media is cutting 19 of 133 editorial jobs.  The worst hit is Valleywag, one of my daily sources of information.  The 'wag will be losing associate editors Nicholas Carlson and Jackson West and reporter Melissa Gira Grant, which leaves only a couple of guys to run the ship.

Does this make sense?  My thoughts - yes, it definitely does.  Couple this with Denton's other move - to stop bonuses, but increase everyone's base salaries - and you realize that he might be an early mover, but one who is moving in the right direction.

Consumer spending will be down in the first half of next year - all indications are leading to this.  Ad budgets, specially for less mainstream media forms and outlets, will be slashed.  As such, positioning your company for such an outcome in advance is the right move.

Personally, I've been on the receiving end at Onetta, after 9/11.  But thanks to their strategy of cutting workforce early, Onetta stayed in business longer than most other dot com companies during the 2000 - 2003 time (yes, it did finally go down, as a disadvantageous sale to Bookham, but the fact remains that people did have jobs longer, and some people did get some level of bonuses).

Hope the laid-off folks find better opportunities very soon.