layoffs

OK! Melts Down

cityfile · 01/29/09 11:55AM

Fashion Week Daily reports OK! editor in chief Susan Toepfer was dismissed today, just a few months after taking over for Sara Ivens at the second-rate tabloid weekly. A number of OK! staffers have been cut as well, although additional layoffs are expected in the coming days. [The Daily]

Job Cuts at Reed, A Magazine for Rick Warren

cityfile · 01/27/09 12:23PM

• Reed Business has cut staff across its numerous publications. [NYT, THR, FB]
• Carlos Slim Helu's loan to The New York Times Co. is "an ominous move" by a "capitalist with loyalties to a foreign state," says the Seattle Times. [E&P]
• Pastor Rick Warren is launching a magazine. [WSJ]
• More on Conde Nast's new web strategy. [NYP]
• Meet the Huffington Post's new cast of celebrity bloggers. [Jossip]
• The Senate has voted to delay the transition to digital TV until June 12. [BN]

Geithner Takes the Oath, Banks Continue to Post Losses

cityfile · 01/27/09 06:26AM

• Tim Geithner was sworn in as Treasury Secretary last night. William Dudley is expected to take over for Geithner at the New York Fed. [BN, NYT, WSJ]
• Nomura announced a quarterly loss of $3.8 billion yesterday. [DB]
• Barclays says it plans to write down an additional $11 billion for 2008. [NYT]
• Tremont, the hedge fund that invested in Madoff, may shut down soon. [NYP]
Vikram Pandit has hinted that Citi may abandon plans to buy a new jet. [CS]
John Paulson is continuing to rake in lots of money. [BN]
• 78,000 people were laid off by public companies yesterday. [NYP]
Stan O'Neal? He's a lousy tipper, just so you know. [NYP]

Sara Nelson Out, Sharon Waxman In

Hamilton Nolan · 01/26/09 02:48PM

In your sobering Monday media column: Publishers Weekly editor laid off, scrounging for dollars and cougars, former New York Times Hollywood reporter Sharon Waxman's web site cometh, and more!

Endless Firings At Time Inc.

Ryan Tate · 01/25/09 10:53PM

CEO Ann Moore: "You do layoffs, and I don't think you're ever done." Also, "magazine" is kind of a dirty word around the executive office:

Microsoft's Self-Destructing Email Pink Slips

Owen Thomas · 01/23/09 05:16PM

Fired employees often say impolite things. But only at Microsoft are their pink slips unprintable. The software giant fired 1,400 people this week — some with specially encoded, read-only email.

The End of Thain, New Layoff Rumors

cityfile · 01/23/09 07:04AM

• More on John Thain's ignominious departure from BofA. [WSJ, BN, NYT]
• Mary Schapiro was approved by the Senate to head the SEC. [DB]
• Citi is remaking its board and is ousting Ken Derr and Franklin Thomas. [FT]
• Some investment bankers are keeping busy: Pfizer is in talks to acquire Wyeth in a deal that could be valued at more than $60 billion. [WSJ, BN]
Wesley Edens' Fortress is returning cash to investors. [WSJ]
• Marc Dreier will need to post a $20 million bond to walk out of prison. [NYT]
• Job cuts in UBS's investment banking division come next month. [AP]
• Rumor has it additional layoffs at Goldman are coming, too. [Dealbreaker]

Google Engineers Fear 1,000 or More Layoffs

Owen Thomas · 01/22/09 03:26PM

A tipster is hearing from inside the Googleplex that the company, which is set to report earnings today, could lay off 5 percent of its engineering staff.

Welcome to 2004

cityfile · 01/22/09 02:33PM

New York City's unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent in December from 6.2 percent in November. According to the Department of Labor, the unemployment rate is now at its highest level since July 2004. Feel free to listen to Beyoncé's "Naughty Girl" a few times if you'd like to achieve the full July 2004 time machine effect. [City Room]

More Cuts at UBS, Fresh Controversy for Merrill

cityfile · 01/22/09 07:02AM

• UBS will make a fourth round of job cuts and is closing several divisions. [BN]
• A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Bank of America for failing to disclose the risks associated with the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. [Reuters]
• More BoA-Merrill trouble: It seems the bank accelerated bonus payments last month so it could hand out the cash before the bank changed hands. [FT]
• The SEC has filed charges against missing hedge funder Arthur Nadal. [NYP]
• Win Bischoff's goodbye email to Citigroup employees. [Deal Journal]
• A record $152 billion was pulled from hedge funds in the fourth quarter. [DB]
• In other bad news, Microsoft is cutting 5,000, Intel is laying off 6,000, and Sony says it lost $2 billion more than expected last year. [WSJ, CNN, BN]

The Language of Layoffs

cityfile · 01/21/09 05:16PM

You weren't "laid off" last week. We'd really appreciate it if you stopped calling it that. It was just a "reduction in force"—you can call it "RIF" for short—and it only happened because certain positions were deemed "redundant," not because the company announced $10 billion in losses last quarter. Also? Please refrain from describing last Friday as a "bloodbath." It was "a day of notification." When are you going to find out about your severance package? Where can you get some cardboard boxes so you can pack up your desk? Glad you asked about that. That will all be covered by the "outplacement representative" at the "orientation session" scheduled for tomorrow. [NYT]

Print Media Is Officially Scary Now

Owen Thomas · 01/21/09 02:36PM

Mailing it in for Hamilton Nolan, who's, er, on assignment, I'm here with your post-inaugural, Nobama media column.

Inauguration Ratings, Scary Day at the Journal

cityfile · 01/21/09 11:24AM

• The broadcast of yesterday's inauguration earned the highest ratings since Reagan took the oath in 1981. Early numbers from Nielsen indicate 29% of US households tuned in. That figure doesn't factor in the people who viewed it online, and the big event in DC yesterday set web traffic records, too. [THR, NYT]
• The Wall Street Journal received a dozen envelopes filled with a mysterious white powder today. [WSJ]
Maria Bartiromo has signed a new contract with CNBC. [NYP]
Newsday editor John Mancini has returned to work following a dispute with the paper's owner, Cablevision's Jim Dolan. [Newsday, E&P]
• Clear Channel is laying off 9% of its work force. [AdAge]
People pushed back its Tuesday afternoon deadline to Wednesday so it could publish a special double issue with Obama on the cover. [WWD]
• North Korea's news agency didn't bother to report the inauguration until late yesterday afternoon. The article was three sentences long. [FB]

Geithner Heads to Capitol Hill, More Cuts at BofA

cityfile · 01/21/09 07:06AM

• Expect to see Tim Geithner grilled on Capitol Hill today over his failure to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. Thanks to the financial crisis, you can also expect to see him confirmed very quickly. [Reuters, WSJ]
• Merrill Lynch clients withdrew $10 billion from accounts during in the fourth quarter, just as Bank of America completed its takeover of the firm. [BN]
• BofA is getting ready to cut another 4,000 jobs beginning this week. [FT]
• BlackRock, the biggest publicly traded U.S. asset manager, posted a 84 percent drop in profits in the fourth-quarter. [DB]
• The good news for Chrysler? The struggling automaker has found a savior in Fiat. The bad news? The deal is reportedly contingent on Chrysler getting $3 billion in additional government loans. [WSJ, NYT]