More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech competition for your demise: Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech job destruction announcements from January to March 2015
Japan based video game maker Sega Sammy said it will push 300 employees to “voluntarily retire”, that includes employees in the United States!
Alabama: Georgia based EarthLink laid off 110 people in Anniston and Arab!
California: Redwood City based internet ‘workspace’ company Evernote announced layoffs, the first round saw 20 people in Texas, and globally, become jobless. More will follow. Ironically company administrators claim they’re hiring! Video game maker Kixeye issued a WARN saying 70 people will become jobless in March, however, gaming industry news sources say as many as 100 people have already been laid off! Internet dating service Zooks laid off at least 25 people. Company administrators have also delayed their IPO, data shows the dating service has seen declining revenues since 2013. Maker of electronic equipment, especially for the medical industry, OSI Electronics issued a WARN saying they are shutting down in April, 118 jobs lost! DreamWorks Animation announced they will eliminate 400 to 500 jobs and shutdown their Redwood City studio in 2015! DreamWorks laid off 350 people in 2014! Company administrators say their revenues have fallen by tens of millions of dollars. Semiconductor maker Tabula issued a WARN saying they will shutdown in March, 120 jobs lost! Internet ‘cloud’ service company VMware issued a WARN saying they will render 114 people jobless by March! Former Netflix and Clinkle executive Andy Rendich is now the boss at Good Eggs, and is already chopping heads. Reports say the organic food internet based delivery service has laid off about 32 employees as Rendich ‘restructures’ the three years old company. The layoffs took place not only in the Golden State but in New York and Louisiana. Sims Recycling issued a WARN saying they will layoff 57 people in March. San Jose based ebay selling off electronic payment processor PayPal, and laying off 2-thousand 4-hundred employees! Symantec continues their job destruction, their latest WARN says 115 people will be laid off between March and April! Florida based software company Citrix Systems issued a WARN saying 99 Californians will be jobless by April. Lightspeed-SkilledUp issued a WARN saying 27 people will be laid off in May. Video game maker Cryptic Studios revealed they laid off 27 people without warning. Sunnyvale based internet company Yahoo announced it will shutdown its last office in China, as many as 3-hundred jobs lost! eHealthInsurance Services continues to blame Obama Care as it eliminated 235 jobs! ITT Cannon issued a layoff WARN saying 56 people in Santa Clara will be unemployed by the end of May. Two tech companies merged, Cypress Semiconductor and Spansion, and made it clear they will eliminate 16-hundred Golden State jobs by the end of April! Tibco Software laid off 80 people without warning. It could be connected to their $4.3-billion USD sale to evil Vista Equity Partners. Palo Alto based electric car maker Tesla announced it will cut its employee numbers in China by 30%, due to down sales caused by problems with charging batteries. Tech news publisher Gigaom, whose slogan is “We humanize technology…”, fired everybody and shutdown due to not being able to pay its debts. Video game maker Electronic Arts (EA) issued a layoff WARN saying 70 people will become unemployed in May. Japanese CD maker Panasonic issued a WARN saying they will shut down their Torrance disk factory by the end of April, at least 87 jobs lost. Hewlett Packard (HP) announced it will kill off even more jobs, just as soon as it’s done killing off 55-thousand jobs currently! It’s part of the company’s plans to be split into two separate entities. Maker of revolutionary Light Field Cameras, Lytro is reportedly laying off 50 employees, apparently because the successful company is shifting focus to internet-social media and video. After getting $24-million USD from ailing Warner Brothers, and claiming to be seeking to hire 15 people, internet video game company Machinima laid off 13 employees. Internet company Zwillow took over internet based real estate company Trulia, 140 people (local news reports say 157 people, but a Wall Street Journal report said as many as 350 people will be affected) will become jobless by the end of April! Colorado based solar power panel installer RGS Energy announced it will layoff 1-hundred Californians! EverQuest maker Daybreak Game finally issued a WARN revealing they will kill 140 jobs in April, It’s the result of Japan based Sony selling them off to New York based Columbus Nova. Company administrators say it’s the result of their new business model.
Colorado: In Longmont, ‘spy’ satellite operator DigitalGlobe laid off 64 people. It’s part of the company’s plan to kill 155 jobs across the United States! Company administrators have been reporting profits but said their outlook for the future of the economy is grim, so they’re cutting jobs now.
Florida: In Orlando, tech school DeVry University issued a layoff WARN saying 50 employees will be unemployed in May. In Tampa, professional-tech services company Leidos issued a WARN saying 85 people will be laid off in April. ASG Software now chapter 11 bankrupt busted. Based on statements made by the administrators the company isn’t in trouble, they just don’t want to pay their debts. At Patrick Air Force Base, taxsucker Computer Sciences Raytheon issued a WARN saying 420 people will be jobless by April! Fort Lauderdale based software company Citrix Systems announced it will eliminate 900 in-house and contracted jobs! They blame crashing sales. In Maitland, data company Windstream issued a WARN saying they will layoff 62 people between March and May.
Indiana: ModusLink issued a WARN saying 320 people will become jobless in April! Administrators say they lost a major client.
Iowa: It was revealed that IBM (International Business Machine) will layoff 202 people at their Dubuque facility in February!
Minnesota: Colorado based Arrow Electronics issued a WARN saying they will shutdown their Saint Paul operations in March, 77 jobs lost. Company administrators are moving their electronics salvage ops to Ohio.
New York: In Elmsford, internet publisher MYPublisher-Shutterfly issued a WARN saying they will layoff 47 people between May and July. NYC based, AOL (formerly America OnLine) shutting down internet video game website Joystick and kill off 150 advertising jobs! Business Insider is also reporting that their sources say dozens of AOL employees have been voluntarily quitting since December: “Media and technology are drastically evolving to keep up with today’s consumer. The lines are becoming blurred, and as you well know, our industry is converging at a faster pace than anyone predicted.”-Bob Lord, president AOL
In Long Island, Arrow Electronics announced they are taking part in the exodus from The Empire State, and will move 150 jobs to Colorado! Arrow Electronics was once the largest employer in Long Island. Port Washington based computer retailer Systemax announced it will shutdown 31 of its 34 TigerDirect brick-n-mortar stores, and one distribution center, more than 1240 jobs lost by June! Two of the company’s administrators had been convicted of committing financial crimes, including stealing money from Systemax. Internet based real estate company Trulia issued a WARN saying they will layoff a small number of employees by August, it’s connected to the hostile takeover by internet based Zwillow. In NYC, web site design company CreatetheGroup issued a shutdown WARN for May, 38 internet jobs lost. Georgia based internet service provider EarthLink issued a WARN saying 60 employees in Rochester and Pittsford will be laid off between now and May.
North Carolina: In Durham, LED light bulb maker Cree is killing off 319 in-house jobs in favor of cheap-o contractors, blaming an “unforeseeable circumstance”!
Ohio: In Belmont County, after only three years the local Electronic Recycling Services shutdown without warning. Apparently the property is being sold off and electronic recycling operations in the county are being consolidated.
Oregon: After 11 years U.S. Postal mail digitizer Earth Class Mail is now chapter 11 bankrupt, but only to make their sale more easy. Earth Class Mail (Document Command and Remote Control Mail) turns your snail mail into electronic form so you can read it on your smart-phone. The debt loaded Earth Class Mail (which has lost money every year) is being sold to an unnamed company. Portland based software company VendScreen laid off more employees, earlier this year they had 30, now it’s reported they’re down to 19.
Tennessee: Texas based computer maker Dell announced it will shutdown its international call center in Nashville, 96 jobs lost.
Texas: Austin based BitCoin miner CoinTerra now chapter 7 bankrupt busted. It’s blamed on the crashing value of BitCoins, and could be related to the settlement of a law suit last year. In Austin, video game maker Lightbox Interactive laid off an undisclosed number of people.
Virginia: nTelos wireless communication laid off 48 people at its HQ in Waynesboro. It’s the result of company administrators deciding to exit the Richmond and Hampton Roads area, back in December.
Washington: Redmond based Microsoft announced it will shutdown two factories in China by the end of March, killing off 9-thousand jobs! A chapter 11 bankrupt busted company that loves to hit your smartphone with advertisements, Bellvue based Hipcricket, has been taken over by competitor SITO Mobile for $4.5 million. As in all such cases you should expect layoffs, despite the fact that Hipcricket administrators said their sale to SITO would “protect human capital”, corporate weenies always say things like that. Georgia based EarthLink laid off an undisclosed number of people at their Vancouver location. After 20 years Seattle based Zombie Studios shutdown. The video game maker even worked with the U.S. Army to create video games to train soldiers.
Wisconsin: Publisher of many model kit building magazines Kalmbach Publishers laid off 15 people from their Discover and Art Jeweler magazines, blaming crashing sales. Don’t blame the internet most of their publications are available on the internet, in fact Kalmbach has twice as many websites (including one about drones) as it does hardcopy magazine titles!
“IMPLEMENTING HEADCOUNT REDUCTIONS” : 2nd Q 2015
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed