Cost Cutting

Financial Times staff invited to cut working week — The Financial Times is offering staff the opportunity to work a three-day week as part of cost-cutting measures designed to avoid the need for job cuts. John Ridding, the Financial Times chief executive, informed staff yesterday that the cost-cutting measures were being put in place as a result of a worsening global economic conditions in an internal email, seen by MediaGuardian.co.uk.Among the measures being introduced at the FT is an invitation to staff to make a voluntary reduction in the number of days they work, down to three or four a week if individual departments could accommodate those changes.Other cost-cutting... [Tags: appointments, cost cutting, economic environment, email, finance director]

Roy Greenslade: Martin faces rough ride as Herald editor-in-chief — Donald Martin, the newly-appointed editor-in-chief of the Glasgow-based Herald newspaper group, has got a big job on his hands. It would be difficult enough in any circumstance to edit The Herald while overseeing the Sunday Herald and his former paper, the Evening Times.But the circumstances are extraordinary. His first headache will be a work-to-rule by members of the National Union of Journalists, who are protesting about cost-cutting. And Martin's new post is sure to raise speculation that the production of all three titles will be merged in order to reduce staffing still further.There is a clear precedent. In September, the... [Tags: circumstance, cost cutting, democrat and chronicle, desks, downward trend]

Shameless squeezed in Channel 4's cost-cutting plans — The next series of Channel 4 drama Shameless could be cut from 16 to eight episodes as part of the broadcaster's cost-cutting drive. By Ben Dowell... [Tags: broadcaster, channel 4, cost cutting, dowell]

Coldwater Creek Tops Estimates — The company's cost-cutting measures start to hit the bottom line.... [Tags: bottom line, coldwater creek, cost cutting, measures, tops]

Recession Rx: Take Stock, Shore Up -- and Make Big Bets — Every organization with an institutional pulse has been struggling to figure out the right response to the current economic crisis. An article I'm currently working on aims to help companies move from ad hoc remedies -- a series of often isolated conversations and initiatives -- to a comprehensive recession treatment plan. The piece (which will appear soon at www.hbr.org) is based on a series of white papers by David Rhodes and Daniel Stelter, both of the Boston Consulting Group. They believe that we face a severe and prolonged recession. (One particularly disturbing data point: As the economy began to seriously... [Tags: beginning of the great depression, boston consulting group, business operations, companies move, cost cutting]

Hewlett-Packard Added To Goldman Conviction Buy List — Goldman Sachs hardware analyst David Bailey this morning added Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) to the firm’s Conviction Buy List, replacing Emulex (ELX). “Given our negative view on enterprise tech spending, particularly in the first half of 2009 when CIOs are likely to under spend already-soft IT budgets, we believe Hewlett-Packard should outperform on a relative and absolute basis due to the company’s earnings resiliency and diversity,” Bailey writes. He says the company’s earnings pre-announcement earlier this week “reaffirmed” his thesis that “the company’s diversity and cost-cutting abilities should allow it to show solid earnings despite deteriorating tech demand.” Bailey maintains his Buy... [Tags: absolute basis, announcement earlier this week, budgets, checks, cios]

The big chill for holiday parties? — In the tech industry, holiday parties aren't getting canceled left and right in the face of cost-cutting, but things are certainly being done differently this year.... [Tags: big chill, cost cutting, holiday parties]

News to know: Dell; Army bans USB drives; Salesforce; Microsoft — Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily: Larry Dignan: Cost cutting pays off for Dell; IT spending, demand ‘challenging’ Sam Diaz: Salesforce bucks trend for Q3; shares rising. Unsealed court filing: HP’s Hurd had Vista concerns Ryan Naraine: Under worm attack, US Army bans USB drives Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft [...]... [Tags: cost cutting, dell, headlines, hp, hurd]

Dell profits take (small) hit in Q3 — Cost cutting saves the day If you were looking for some good news out of Dell today as it reported its fiscal 2009 third quarter financial results, you will probably be disappointed. But not as much as you might think. That's good news of a sort considering the miserable week the global economy is having.…... [Tags: cost cutting, dell profits, global economy, q3]

Cost cutting pays off for Dell; IT spending, demand ‘challenging’ — Dell’s third quarter was a mixed bag. Revenue was down amid weak demand, but earnings were better than expected. The outlook was “challenging” as expected. The company reported third quarter earnings of $727 million, or 37 cents a share, on revenue of $15.16 billion. The good news: Earnings handily topped estimates of 31 cents a share. [...]... [Tags: cost cutting, dell, estimates, quarter earnings]

Layoff Count Rises: Akamai, Qik, Strands — The economy is affecting players all over the web video ecosystem, and companies both large and small. Here’s the latest carnage. Content delivery giant Akamai laid off 110 employees today, or 7 percent of its staff. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company described the layoffs as “cost-cutting measures.” Also, TechCrunch reports that recommendation startup Strands laid off 14 people, or 10 percent of its company, and mobile live video startup Qik also laid off 10 percent, or five people.... [Tags: cambridge mass, carnage, content delivery, cost cutting, delivery giant]

H.P. Expects Earnings to Top Forecasts — The company said its global reach, diverse customer base and cost-cutting were helping it weather the economic downturn and that it expected fourth-quarter results well above expectations.... [Tags: cost cutting, customer base, earnings, economic downturn, global reach]

Earnings preview: Will Lowe’s go lower after it reports? — Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Home Depot (HD), Lowe’s Cos (LOW) Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW), a chain that sells products related to home improvement for do-it-yourselfers and competes with Home Depot (NYSE: HD), is set to report earnings for the third quarter on Monday, November 17. The expectation is for $0.28 per share. If management hits that number, which its shareholders are praying it does at the very least, then that would represent a 35% drop in per-share income. At this point, investors are becoming numb to things like 35% drops in per-share income, aren’t they? Ah, the wonders of... [Tags: bear market, bets, cash flow statement, consumer confidence, cost cutting]

More details may follow on this morning’s conference call but something missing from Nortel’s cost-cutting strategy is a symbolic gesture by senior management regarding compensation. If Mike Zafirovski had decided to take a $1/year salary or decline any bonuses in 2009, it wouldn’t have meant much to the bottom line but certainly would have sent a strong signal to Nortel’s employees who are being asked to suck it up. In fiscal 2002, Cisco CEO John Chambers drew a $1/year salary at a time when the company was laying off 8,500 employees. Among some of the measures Nortel is taking to... [Tags: bottom line, ceo john chambers, cisco, cisco ceo, commitments]

Nick Denton: "Publishers are sleeping their way to extinction" [Gawker Media] — Think things are bad in the media business? You ain't seen nothin' yet. That's the message Nick Denton, the owner of Gawker Media, an online publisher whose properties include this website, lays out in a new essay soon to be published on his personal blog. Analysts project a single-digit increase in online advertising in 2009; we should be so lucky, according to Denton, who writes that a 30 to 40 percent decline in all advertising spending, online and off, next year — a scenario supported by analyses of economic recessions from Sweden to Indonesia. His conclusion? "Publishers should be planning... [Tags: advertisers, bandwidth bills, content delivery network, cost cutting, decline]

LinkedIn to Lay Off 10 Percent of Staff — LinkedIn said it will eliminate 36 positions, or 10 percent of its workforce, as part of a restructuring effort to focus on businesses that are generating revenue, reports Reuters. A spokesperson with the career-based social networking site told Reuters that the cuts are preemptive to make sure the company remains cash-flow positive, and that the decision was made by management, not investors. One of its backers, Sequoia Capital, recently gave its portfolio companies a pessimistic presentation on cost cutting and how the economy will affect Silicon Valley. LinkedIn has been doing well in bringing in new users during the... [Tags: 7m, backers, cash flow, cost cutting, economic downturn]

Earnings Call: News Corp's Murdoch: 'Stringent Cost-Cutting' But 'Not Going To Starve Our Business' — News Corp (NYSE: NWS) Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch expects the current slump to extend at least through 2009, telling analysts and investors in today's earnings call that "our businesses across the board are being challenged by weakening ad markets and weakening currencies." But, typically, Murdoch is pushing the company's strengths, including a handy $5 billion cash clip, and balancing talk of "stringent cost-cutting" across "lean" operations with promises that he won't starve businesses. More to come Our streamlined mobile application for the BlackBerry and other smart devices brings you the latest headlines quickly on the go. Click here to... [Tags: blackberry, business news, ceo, cost cutting, currencies]

RIP: The Controlled Message — [Editor's Note: It's been several weeks since Sequoia Capital's ominous meeting with its portfolio companies warning of tough times ahead. Not much has changed since, but the message has sunk in across Silicon Valley. While Sequoia was full of directives for withstanding the downturn -- many illustrated by scary looking charts -- communications consultant Lou Hoffman says its advice might be overlooking the obvious. Below, he offers up some common sense to skittish startup execs.] Most of you have seen the slide set Sequoia Capital delivered to its anxious startups early last month. Cleverly titled, “RIP: Good Times,” it continues... [Tags: business employees, call to arms, communication strategy, communications consultant, company gain]

BT shares fall to lowest ever point after profits warning shocks City — BT shocked investors yesterday by warning on profits and ousting the head of its under-performing IT services operation in a move that sent shares in the telecoms company to their lowest since it was floated by the Thatcher government in 1984.Chief executive, Ian Livingston, who took over the helm four months ago, admitted that the performance of BT Global Services had been "particularly disappointing" and second quarter profits will miss City expectations as a result.Shareholders, meanwhile, were worried that the setback could force BT to slash its dividend, which is among the most attractive in the FTSE 100. BT had... [Tags: bt spokesman, cost cutting, dramatic fall, finance director, four months]

Sun: No Guidance, No Restructuring, No Turnaround — The sell-off in Sun Microsystems (JAVA) shares today is as much about what they didn’t say as what they did. What they did say was that Q3 results were once again pretty terrible. Revenue was down 7.1%, and analysts say on a constant currency basis the decline was more like 9%-10%. Compounding matters, the company did not provide any financial guidance, which leads the Street to conclude that any forecast would simply be too grim to put into print. And the company also didn’t give the Street what it really wanted, which was a significant restructuring plan. The Street did... [Tags: 8 years, bernstein, business conditions, cost cutting, currency basis]