DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Too many companies botch mass layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

When it comes to mass layoffs, there seems to be no end to the worst, most bungled ways in which some employees first learn they are being let go. “People have to feel they’re being treated with respect,” said Sarah Rodehorst, CEO of Onwards HR, an offboarding technology platform for human resources, legal and finance teams. (Google declined to comment, pointing instead to a blog post from the CEO on the day of the layoffs.) Employees should receive a communication from the CEO or from division leadership that informs them layoffs will occur and offers them the business reasons for the decision. By “small,” Lee means no more than 5 to 10 people, including a leader or manager they know who delivers the news.

☆ Microsoft quarterly profit falls 12% but cloud computing business shows strength
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The tech giant reported revenue of $52.7 billion for the quarter, a modest 2% increase from the year prior but slightly less than analysts had expected. The earnings results come at a turbulent moment for Microsoft, and the tech industry as a whole. Microsoft said last week that it plans to lay off 10,000 employees as part of broader cost-cutting measures. On Tuesday, Microsoft reported revenue declines from its Windows OEM operations and from its Xbox content and services lines. Revenue from its cloud computing division, a key area of focus for Microsoft in recent years, increased 22% from the prior year.

☆ Here are the companies that have laid off employees this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Tech firms went on a hiring spree. “Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees. The crypto brokerage announced in early January that it’s cutting 950 people – almost one in five employees in its workforce. Departments from human resources to the company’s Amazon (AMZN) Stores will be affected. They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year,” CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to employees.

☆ Elizabeth Holmes made an ‘attempt to flee the country’ after her conviction, prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Elizabeth Holmes made an “attempt to flee the country” by booking a one-way ticket to Mexico in January 2022, shortly after the Theranos founder was convicted of fraud, prosecutors alleged in a new court filing Friday. Holmes was convicted last January of defrauding investors while running the failed blood testing startup Theranos. “The government became aware on January 23, 2022, that Defendant Holmes booked an international flight to Mexico departing on January 26, 2022, without a scheduled return trip,” the court filing states. In an earlier court filing, her attorneys argued for her release from custody pending appeal, saying she was not a flight risk or a threat to the community. “There are not two systems of justice – one for the wealthy and one for the poor – there is one criminal justice system in this country,” prosecutors stated in the filing.

☆ Who is Shou Zi Chew? Mounting scrutiny on TikTok could put new spotlight on its CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Months later, when TikTok was grilled by Congress over privacy and security concerns, Pappas was the TikTok executive in the hot seat fielding questions. But Chew, who took over as TikTok CEO in April 2021, has largely stayed out of the spotlight at a time when the app he leads can’t seem to avoid it. He eventually went on to become the CFO of Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, which he helped take public in 2018. While Chew is not a Chinese national, Quint noted Chinese tech companies and leaders that have drawn too much attention to themselves have faced tough government crackdowns. Ultimately, Quint said, “I don’t think the CEO of TikTok has much relevance at all” for US lawmakers scrutinizing its ties to China.

☆ US Labor Department accuses Amazon of failing to keep warehouse workers safe
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Amazon has been accused by federal safety regulators of failing to keep warehouse workers safe from workplace hazards at three US facilities, in the latest example of government officials scrutinizing the e-commerce giant’s labor practices. The Department of Labor said Wednesday that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Amazon and issued hazard letters related to injury risks from workers lifting packages after inspecting three warehouse facilities in Deltona, Florida; Waukegan, Illinois; and New Windsor, New York. An Amazon spokesperson said the company “strongly” disagrees with OSHA’s claims and intends to appeal. “We’ve cooperated fully, and the government’s allegations don’t reflect the reality of safety at our sites,” Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, told CNN in a statement Wednesday. But Amazon is also known for carefully tracking worker productivity and for working conditions that have been called “grueling.”“We have to keep up with the pace,” Jennifer Bates, an Amazon warehouse employee who helped organize a union push at an Alabama facility, said in testimony before the Senate Budget Committee in 2021.

New York/London CNN —Microsoft (MSFT) could announce thousands of job cuts on Wednesday, according to multiple news reports, potentially becoming the latest tech company to cull its workforce as the global economy slows. Sky News, without naming sources, reported the layoffs would affect roughly 5% of the company’s workforce. Facebook (FB) parent Meta also recently announced 11,000 job cuts, the largest in the company’s history. A recent report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found tech layoffs were up 649% in 2022 compared to the previous year, versus just a 13% uptick in job cuts in the overall economy during the same period. The software company’s Azure cloud computing business drove revenue growth over the three months through September, as sales in its personal computing division decreased slightly.

☆ Apple’s first US labor union reaches new milestone for tech industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Workers at Apple’s first unionized retail store began collectively bargaining with management on Wednesday, in a milestone moment not only for the iPhone company but for all of Big Tech. The worker group, based out of a mall near Baltimore, is organized with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) union. “Other Apple workers will be watching this,” she said. Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesThe success of the Towson Apple store workers’ unionization bid came amid a broader wave of workplace organizing. David DiMaria, the lead organizer of the Towson Apple store union campaign with the IAMAW, said excitement was high among the Apple store workers ahead of Wednesday’s first meeting.

☆ Premarket stocks: Bruised tech investors are hedging their bets
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN —There are two certainties in today’s market: The tech sector has been beaten down and interest rates are higher. What’s happening: Investors are purchasing put options, a bearish bet that a stock will fall during a set period of time, on certain tech stocks at historic rates. The losses also created a booming market for investors who hold put option contracts that allow investors to sell shares of these stocks at a price higher than their current levels. Rising interest rates also dried up the easy money tech companies relied on to fuel big bets on future innovations, and cut into their sky-high valuations. Beyond that, the growing number of layoffs may also give certain tech companies some cover to take more severe steps to trim costs now than they may have otherwise done.

☆ Silicon Valley layoffs go from bad to worse
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

At Amazon and other tech companies, the second half of last year was marked by hiring freezes, layoffs and other cost-cutting measures at a number of household names in Silicon Valley. Rising interest rates also dried up the easy money tech companies relied on to fuel big bets on future innovations, and cut into their sky-high valuations. While there have been some layoffs recently in the consumer goods sector and hints of more to come elsewhere, the situation in Silicon Valley remains in stark contrast to the economy as a whole. And despite the robust overall labor market, there are growing concerns that tech layoffs could spread elsewhere. In that sense, at least, Silicon Valley may once again be ahead of the curve, but not in the way it wants.

☆ Investors anxiously await jobs report for clues about Fed rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Traders are betting on a further deceleration in jobs growth because that could lead to a reduction in the size of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Further strength could set off more alarm bells about inflation and Fed rate hikes. Focus on worker payWall Street will also need to dive even deeper into Friday’s jobs report to get a better sense of what’s happening in the economy. Investors cheered the fact that wage growth, measured by average hourly earnings, rose only 4.7% over the previous 12 months in October. Big Tech keeps handing out pink slipsOverall, the jobs market is still in good shape.

☆ Amazon will lay off more than 18,000 workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

New York CNN —Amazon says it plans to lay off more than 18,000 employees. Several units will be affected, including Amazon Stores and its human resources department, according to a statement from CEO Andy Jassy. Jassy had said in November that job cuts at the e-commerce giant would continue into early 2023. Amazon and other tech firms significantly ramped up hiring over the past couple of years as the pandemic shifted consumers’ habits toward e-commerce. Twitter also announced widespread job cuts after Elon Musk bought the company for $44 billion.

☆ Salesforce to cut about 10% of staff
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Salesforce said Wednesday that it will cut approximately 10% of its workforce and reduce its real estate footprint, making it the latest tech company to slash expenses as broader economic uncertainty continues to hit Silicon Valley particularly hard. “I’ve been thinking a lot about how we came to this moment,” Benioff wrote. Like Benioff, a number of other tech founders and CEOs have since admitted they failed to accurately gauge pandemic demand. As a result, tech firms including Amazon and Meta have announced company-wide layoffs. And most of all, please lean on your leadership, including me, as we work through this difficult time together.”

In a statement provided to CNN, Microsoft said it has agreed to recognize the union. “Microsoft has lived up to its commitment to its workers and let them decide for themselves whether they want a union,” CWA president Chris Shelton said in a statement. Some companies like Amazon have so far refused to recognize workers who have voted to form a union. The union bid at the Microsoft subsidiary, however, stands out from some of the others because of Microsoft’s openness to employee organizing efforts. Microsoft last year entered into a neutrality agreement with the CWA, which is also supporting organizing efforts from workers at Activision Blizzard, the gaming giant Microsoft agreed to acquire for $68.7 billion.

☆ The year that brought high-flying Silicon Valley back down to earth
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The tech industry, already dominant, only seemed destined to grow even bigger at the start of this year. The spread of the Omicron variant suggested a continued pandemic-fueled demand for digital goods and services, which had buoyed many tech companies. The result was a bloodbath unlike anything the tech industry has seen in the past decade. For years, Silicon Valley has held up its founders as visionaries who can see far into the future. “I do not think venture is cratering, or the tech industry is cratering as an industry.”But for now, at least, there appears to be no end in sight to the pain for Silicon Valley and those who work in it.

☆ TikTok is removing some of the mystery behind how it recommends videos to users
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —If you’ve ever wondered why TikTok suggested a certain video in your feed, you may start to get a little more clarity. TikTok on Tuesday said it is beginning to roll out a new feature to add more context about how the platform’s algorithms recommend videos in your “For You” feed. But TikTok said that it has plans to build up this feature with more details in the future. “Looking ahead, we’ll continue to expand this feature to bring more granularity and transparency to content recommendations,” the company said in a blog post. TikTok has also taken steps to isolate US user data from other parts of its business.

☆ Amazon warehouse workers in UK vote to go on strike
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Amazon warehouse workers at a facility in the United Kingdom plan to go on strike, their union confirmed to CNN on Friday, in a move that’s being billed as a first for the company’s workers in the country. The GMB union, which represents workers in a range of industries in the UK, said that hundreds of Amazon workers at a warehouse in Coventry overwhelmingly voted for the strike, which is expected to take place in the new year. “On top of this, we’re pleased to have announced that full-time, part-time and seasonal frontline employees will receive an additional one-time special payment of up to £500 as an extra thank you.”The move from Amazon workers in the UK also comes as Amazon workers in the United States continue to organize and push for collective bargaining rights. Amazon workers at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, made history earlier this year when they voted to form the first-ever labor union at one of the company’s US facilities. Despite the landmark victory for the worker group, known as the Amazon Labor Union, the company has yet to formally recognize the union or come to the bargaining table.

☆ TikTok might be too big to ban, no matter what lawmakers say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

“I would lose most of my sales.”For much of the past two years, talk of an outright TikTok ban seemed to recede. But suddenly, the future of TikTok in the United States appears more uncertain than at any point since July 2020. Two years later, she said a TikTok ban would cause her to "lose most of my sales." The tremendous reach of TikTok may only make it harder to ban the service outright, some national security experts say. Hootie Hurley, 23, a Los Angeles-based full-time creator with more than 1.3 million followers on TikTok, told CNN that he now makes most of his income through his TikTok following.

☆ Uber Eats launches robot delivery service in Miami
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The next time you order a meal from Uber Eats, it may be delivered by a robot – at least if you live in Miami. Starting on Thursday, some Miami residents can order their Uber Eats takeout to be delivered via autonomous, sidewalk-trotting robots thanks to a new partnership between the ride-hailing company and robotics firm Cartken. The delivery robots can operate indoors as well as outdoors. Uber also recently partnered with Motional, a driverless technology company, to offer autonomous vehicles in Las Vegas. The company’s partnership with Uber marks its first with an on-demand delivery app outside of college campuses.

☆ Apple made China the backbone of its iPhone assembly. Shifting away could take years
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

For years, Apple has relied on a vast manufacturing network in China to mass produce the iPhone, iPad and other popular products found in households around the world. “Apple would not be the company that it is today without China as a manufacturing base,” said Eli Friedman, a professor at Cornell University whose research focuses on labor and development in China. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who helped build the company’s global supply chain, acknowledged the unique manufacturing strengths of China in one 2015 interview. Labor costs in China, while on the rise over the past decade, are also “artificially cheap because of political repression against labor organizers,” according to Friedman. Another key element to why Apple “is really reluctant to rock the boat with China is that China is also a massive market for Apple,” according to Wharton’s Allon.

☆ Reuters: Former Theranos COO sentenced to nearly 13 years
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN Business —Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the former chief operating officer of failed blood testing startup Theranos, was sentenced Wednesday to nearly 13 years in prison for fraud. Former Theranos COO Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani appears in court on Wednesday, December 7. Like Holmes, Balwani faced up to 20 years in prison as well as a fine of $250,000 plus restitution for each count. In a recent court filing, prosecutors noted that Balwani was convicted not only of defrauding investors but also defrauding patients. Before joining Theranos, Balwani had a career as a software executive.

☆ Amazon’s checkout page stops working for some users
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

How relevant is this ad to you? Video player was slow to load content Video content never loaded Ad froze or did not finish loading Video content did not start after ad Audio on ad was too loud Other issues

☆ Microsoft could soon have its first union
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The workers are organizing with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union and have until the end of December to vote on it. Microsoft has agreed to recognize the union if a majority of the workers vote in favor of it, according to the CWA. The union bid at the Microsoft subsidiary, however, stands out from some of the others because Microsoft has previously vowed to recognize the rights of workers to organize. Slack said Microsoft has been “very accommodating” throughout the process, ever since organizers first approached the company about the union. “They understand that it’s a right and they wanted to leave it up to the workers,” Slack said.

☆ Amazon CEO explains thinking behind layoffs as unionized warehouse workers protest outside
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Amazon, more than most tech companies, experienced a staggering pandemic boom as more customers shifted their spending online during the health crisis. Despite the landmark union victory in April, Amazon has so far refused to formally recognize the grassroots worker group known as the Amazon Labor Union, or come to the bargaining table. The company has aggressively pushed back against the workers’ victory through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Jassy also emphasized that the last two Amazon union elections held resulted in workers voting not to unionize, and that Amazon prefers to have a direct relationship with fulfillment center workers rather than going through unions. Labor activist Chris Smalls joins members of the Amazon labor union and others for a protest outside of the New York Times DealBook Summit as Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, will be appearing on November 30, 2022 in New York City.

☆ DoorDash to lay off 1,250 corporate employees
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —DoorDash on Wednesday said it will lay off about 1,250 corporate employees after growing its team too quickly during the pandemic, making it the latest tech company to cut staff in recent weeks. Like other tech companies, DoorDash experienced a pandemic boom as more consumers embraced online deliveries and shied away from stores and restaurants amid the health crisis. In his memo, Xu nodded to the shifting economic climate. “We too are not immune to the external challenges and growth has tapered vs our pandemic growth rates,” he wrote. Shares of DoorDash are down more than 60% so far this year.

Search resuls for: "Thorbecke"

25 mentions found