4 posts and columns on downsizing

April’s Job Loss Report Less of a Train Wreck Than March’s

in News on May 6, 2009 at 7:11 am PT

The number of job cuts made during April was the lowest since October. That’s the latest from outplacement services provider Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which said today that “planned workforce reductions” in April were 132,590–12 percent fewer than the more than 150,000 recorded in March. Great news, right? Until you realize that the “planned reductions” to which the company refers were up 47 percent from a year earlier and are still at recession levels.
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Investors to Sun: We've Got Another Place for You to Put the Dot You Put in Dot-com

in News on April 7, 2009 at 10:28 am PT

The market today continues to have its say on Sun’s rejection of IBM’s acquisition offer. The consensus: IBM threw Sun a rope and the company used it to make a noose. Shares of Sun–which fell nearly 27 percent Monday following the collapse this weekend of merger talks with IBM–are slipping again today on fears that the company has bollixed up what may have been its only chance at salvation.
java1

Investors to Sun: We’ve Got Another Place for You to Put the Dot You Put in Dot-com

in News on April 7, 2009 at 10:28 am PT

The market today continues to have its say on Sun’s rejection of IBM’s acquisition offer. The consensus: IBM threw Sun a rope and the company used it to make a noose. Shares of Sun–which fell nearly 27 percent Monday following the collapse this weekend of merger talks with IBM–are slipping again today on fears that the company has bollixed up what may have been its only chance at salvation.
java1

Oracle: Weisel Cuts Estimates, Target; Earnings Wednesday

in News on March 16, 2009 at 10:05 am PT

Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Tim Klasell this morning trimmed his EPS estimates and price target for Oracle ahead of the company’s earnings report for the fiscal third quarter ended February, which is due on Wednesday afternoon.