Well, today was the long awaited day at Microsoft. Bad results and first ever mass layoff info here.
So far, I only know one person who got the bad news today. Which is still terrible for someone you know, but it could have been worse.
Can't say I haven't done my share of worrying about this, but my group is one of the ones making money, so I have some reassurance in that.
I hate to complain when so many won't have a job at all, but I'm especially bummed about this from Steve Ballmer's email to the troops:
"We'll also reduce costs by eliminating merit increases for FY10 that would have
taken effect in September of this calendar year."
Honestly, I'm having a great year in my new job and I think it would have been a solid review for me. Now I'll still work toward that great result in terms of the review, but there won't be the cash and prizes to go along with that, which for me personally makes it hard to stay as enthusiastic about it as I had been.
Oh well. What can you do? At least they ripped the band-aid off quickly, and early in the day so the market could react through the day time.
Not to spread my plague of depression and negativity, but compared to past recessions and even the Great Depression (which this current downturn doesn't begin to approach), I really don't see a way out of it. This is not a Republican vs Democrat issue because the Republicans are screwing up too. You can't borrow and tax money and then spend it and say you are stimulating the economy. Since most of the billions are borrowed, we're arguably devaluing our currency at a double rate.
Aggressive tax cuts (for the people who are actually paying taxes) and real spending cuts would help, but the fact is we've got an aging boomer population with nothing really following them. This means we have a permanent glut of housing. Nothing will bring that back. And those same boomers have decided the government owes them care and cash forever just because they are successfully getting old. Clearly not a recipe for growth.
So...you still got a job?
Man, this will have some big implicatons for housing prices in your area, won't it? If people start moving and saling...yikes....
ReplyDeleteyes, we still have jobs here, and thankfully my clients are faithful and generous as always, but make no mistake about it, I am so grateful we started slashing at our bills years ago. This hasn't hurt so much around here, thanks goodness. I am so glad we followed counsel we had not followed before....
that is all.
Well to put a proper perspective on it, only 1400 are being fired today.
ReplyDeleteBut even at 5000, that is like 5% of a worldwide workforce of about 100,000 - or about as many people as we hired absentmindedly just a couple quarters ago. And one of the problems is that Microsoft has never really been very good at firing people who should be fired. Not implying that these 5000 people suck, but it would not be hard to find 5000 people who do.
If you are one of the 5000, it is potentially lifechangingly negative.
But in and of itself, this number will not shake the region - especially because it is spread out worldwide.
Also, keep in mind that while the headlines scream "11% Drop in Microsoft Profit", that means we made only $4.17 BILLION in the last 3 months rather than the $4.7 BILLION we made in the same quarter last year.
ReplyDeletePlus we have no debt and over $20 Billion in cash.
So no need to take up a collection door-to-door for us or anything.