I Need Medicine - Merck Layoffs

Merck announced their Q3 profit fell 28%,... and they're going to lay off 7,200 people.  That's 13% of their workforce.

Ouch!

Zecco, Don't Fail Me Now!

Dear Zecco

I know you are a startup, and you think it is acceptable to not always work.  But I am starting to look longingly ahead to the time when I don't want to quit you immediately.  Why can't I see any of my data (see screenshot below)?  The market is falling - this is when I like to buy my stocks!!! 

Please, Zecco, learn how to work  properly. 

Regards

-Vikram

Even the Bobcats and NBA have Layoffs!

I keep forgetting the NBA is a business.  But the folks working at NBA headquarters, and league offices around the country do know that.  The Charlotte Bobcats, who have probably the league's stingiest ownership after the L.A. Clippers, laid off about 40 people from their marketing and business department, and three front office executives.  And the NBA asked some people to leave, too.

Wow

Flip Me Off - Pressflip Founder Out

Ted Dzubia, the founder of Pressflip, which originally came out as Persai, has left the startup. 

Pressflip didn't seem to have much funding, as far as I can recall.  And it was a bit of a joke among other Search companies... their results were generally quite bad.  Pressflip's algos were supposed to learn about your search choices as you kept searching and giving them input.  But I gave up after trying a few times, since I didn't see any progress at all.  I do have to admit, I liked their UI a bit. 

About.com Advertisements Begging for your Advertisements

Take a look at the About.com ad above.  The ad is asking other people to advertise on About.com.  Hmmm.... I guess it makes sense.... sort of?  Anyway, I would love to know what their ROI is.

Perhaps they should spend the money instead on getting the word out to advertising agencies and potential medium-to-large advertisers.  The ad I saw above was on a blog with a nice following, but not the clientele that (I assume) would immediately jump and throw ad money at About.com.

Whoops, Yahoo Update

The original rumors were wrong.  (See my original blog post).  Yahoo is cutting 1,50o people (10% of their workforce) instead of 3,500. 

But I feel Yahoo is wrong - they should clean house a bit more, get rid of the people who no longer want to be there.  And then hire new high performers - they will be among a smaller set of companies hiring in this economy.

Seesmic Shift - Layoffs at Video Conversation Company

Loic Le Meur's Seesmic has asked about 10 of their roughly 25 - 30 employees to leave (most last week, and 2-3 about three weeks ago).

Seesmic is all about video conversations - upload your videos, join in the conversation.  Great.  I wonder what the Seesmic team is talking about now.

Just as with most of the other companies going through layoffs this early, Seesmic has a bit of money in the bank (including a recent $6 Million round of funding, and another $6 Million last year), and is tightening its belt for the upcoming economic winter.