WebProNews

Tag: Layoffs

  • Microsoft To Eliminate Xbox Entertainment Studios

    As you may know, Microsoft announced that it is cutting 18,000 jobs over the next year, starting with 13,000 over the next six months.

    One casualty of the company’s restructuring is Xbox Entertainment Studios, a segment founded in 2012 to help the company get exclusive streaming video content. It just didn’t work out that well.

    Re/code reports that the division is shutting down. Dawn Chmielewski writes:

    Sources paint a picture of a disorganized studio that struggled to close deals and lacked a fully fleshed-out business model. This inability to execute has turned off potential studio partners, they say, complicating the process of securing premium content.

    The report was also updated with confirmation from Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft Studios, who said, “Xbox will continue to support and deliver interactive sports content like ‘NFL on Xbox,’ and we will continue to enhance our entertainment offering on console by innovating the TV experience through the monthly console updates. Additionally, our app partnerships with world-class content providers bringing entertainment, sports and TV content to Xbox customers around the world are not impacted by this organizational change.”

    According to the report, Xbox Entertainment Studios, which employs roughly 200 workers, will wind down gradually, and in-production projects will continue.

    Also part of the job cuts will be 12,500 former Nokia employees. Mary Jo Foley at ZDnet says the company’s Operating System Group is also one of the units that will be affected “immediately and directly” by the cuts. She says she’s hearing that “a good chunk” of Windows testers will be let go as well as some from the sales, marketing, and legal departments.

    Image via YouTube

  • Microsoft Is Officially Cutting 18,000 Jobs

    Microsoft Is Officially Cutting 18,000 Jobs

    It’s been rumored that Microsoft would be cutting some jobs – specifically some from its acquisition of Nokia assets. Now, official word from the company on the matter is out.

    CEO Satya Nadella said in an email to employees, which the company made public, that Microsoft will begin reducing its overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs within the next year. Of that, 12,500 are related to Nokia, and will include professional and factory workers. The company says it’s starting the process of eliminating 13,000 jobs, and that those affected will be notified within six months.

    Not exactly like ripping off a Band-Aid.

    Nadella does note that while it’s eliminating positions, it’s also creating others, though he doesn’t give any numbers on that, and we’re guessing the number is far from 18,000.

    The company is providing affected employees with severance and “job transition help.”

    Nadella tells employees that they’ll learn more about what to expect later today, so more details will probably emerge in the public from that He also says more details will be revealed on the company’s upcoming earnings call on July 22nd.

    Below is the email in its entirety:

    From: Satya Nadella

    To: All Employees

    Date: July 17, 2014 at 5:00 a.m. PT

    Subject: Starting to Evolve Our Organization and Culture

    Last week in my email to you I synthesized our strategic direction as a productivity and platform company. Having a clear focus is the start of the journey, not the end. The more difficult steps are creating the organization and culture to bring our ambitions to life. Today I’ll share more on how we’re moving forward. On July 22, during our public earnings call, I’ll share further specifics on where we are focusing our innovation investments.

    The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. With this in mind, we will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year. Of that total, our work toward synergies and strategic alignment on Nokia Devices and Services is expected to account for about 12,500 jobs, comprising both professional and factory workers. We are moving now to start reducing the first 13,000 positions, and the vast majority of employees whose jobs will be eliminated will be notified over the next six months. It’s important to note that while we are eliminating roles in some areas, we are adding roles in certain other strategic areas. My promise to you is that we will go through this process in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible. We will offer severance to all employees impacted by these changes, as well as job transition help in many locations, and everyone can expect to be treated with the respect they deserve for their contributions to this company.

    Later today your Senior Leadership Team member will share more on what to expect in your organization. Our workforce reductions are mainly driven by two outcomes: work simplification as well as Nokia Devices and Services integration synergies and strategic alignment.

    First, we will simplify the way we work to drive greater accountability, become more agile and move faster. As part of modernizing our engineering processes the expectations we have from each of our disciplines will change. In addition, we plan to have fewer layers of management, both top down and sideways, to accelerate the flow of information and decision making. This includes flattening organizations and increasing the span of control of people managers. In addition, our business processes and support models will be more lean and efficient with greater trust between teams. The overall result of these changes will be more productive, impactful teams across Microsoft. These changes will affect both the Microsoft workforce and our vendor staff. Each organization is starting at different points and moving at different paces.

    Second, we are working to integrate the Nokia Devices and Services teams into Microsoft. We will realize the synergies to which we committed when we announced the acquisition last September. The first-party phone portfolio will align to Microsoft’s strategic direction. To win in the higher price tiers, we will focus on breakthrough innovation that expresses and enlivens Microsoft’s digital work and digital life experiences. In addition, we plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows. This builds on our success in the affordable smartphone space and aligns with our focus on Windows Universal Apps.

    Making these decisions to change are difficult, but necessary. I want to invite you to my monthly Q&A event tomorrow. I hope you can join, and I hope you will ask any question that’s on your mind. Thank you for your support as we start to take steps forward in evolving our organization and culture.

    Satya

    Image: Nadella and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop (Microsoft)

  • Sony To Shut Down 20 Of Its U.S. Retail Stores

    Sony To Shut Down 20 Of Its U.S. Retail Stores

    Electronics giants operating their own retail stores has always been a weird proposition. Apple made it work by offering a retail experience that you just can’t find anywhere else, but others haven’t been so successful. Sony is one of those companies, and now its US retail presence is getting decimated.

    Sony announced this week that it will be shutting down 20 of its 31 U.S. retail stores this year. The stores being closed are in areas that you wouldn’t expect to see Sony stores in the first place – like Virginia and Pennsylvania. Those that will remain open are primarily located in California and New York with two locations in Florida and one location in Texas remaining open as well.

    “While these moves were extremely tough, they were absolutely necessary to position us in the best possible place for future growth,” said Mike Fasulo, President and COO of Sony Electronics. “I am entirely confident in our ability to turn the business around, in achieving our preferred future, and continue building on our flawless commitment to customer loyalty through the complete entertainment experience only Sony can offer.”

    Here’s the full list of stores being closed:

    Tysons, VA
    University Village, WA
    Galleria Dallas, TX
    Forum Shops, NV
    Pentagon, VA
    Boca Raton, FL
    Menlo Park, NJ
    Las Americas, CA
    Camarillo, CA
    Aurora, IL
    Gilroy, CA
    Wrentham, MA
    Pleasant Prairie, WI
    San Marcos, TX
    Cherry Creek, CO
    Dolphin, FL
    Century City, CA
    Valley Fair, CA
    Comcast, PA
    Central Valley, N.Y. (Woodbury Common Outlets)

    Alongside the announcement of the above store closings, Sony also announced that it will be laying off 1,000 employees by the end of the year. These 1,000 employees are part of the original 5,000 employees that Sony previously announced it would be laying off. There’s no word yet on when the other 4,000 will be getting the axe or which parts of the company they’ll come from.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Disney Layoffs: Hundreds Expected To Be Axed

    Disney Interactive, the video game and digital media subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co., will soon layoff “several hundred” of its employees from a total staff of about 3000, according to the Wall Street Journal. The cuts are expected to be announced by Wednesday.

    The subsidiary has been underperforming for several years now and has reportedly lost over 200 million a year between 2008 and 2012. In the most recent fiscal year, Disney Interactive posted earnings of 1.1 billion but lost $87 million in overall operating costs, making it the only segment of the Disney conglomerate to lose money. However, last quarter revenue reports show that the subsidiary made a profit, earning $396 million while only spending $16 million in operating costs. This is just the second time in five years that Disney Interactive managed to make a quarterly profit.

    The company is clearly trying to turn the corner. Late last year Disney launched the video game, Disney Infinity, which includes plastic toys that can be mounted on an electronic base to change the virtual action — so far, it’s a hit. Despite this, in November, Disney axed the division’s co-president John Pleasants leaving Jimmy Pitaro as its sole president. He’s now left with the task of restructuring the division.

    According to sources the majority of the layoffs will come from Playdom, a division that manages Disney’s social media and produces games. Disney bought Playdom in 2010 for $563 million, but has struggled to turn it into a successful game franchise during that time.

    The expected layoffs from Playdom come after a slew of other recent layoffs. In January 2013, the company shut down its Austin, Texas based developer Junction Point Studio, laying off about 50 workers. In 2011, Disney got rid of some 200 employees after it shut down Propaganda Games, the studio for the “Tron: Evolution” video game franchise.

    Images via Twitter

  • Dell Layoffs Confirmed; Numbers Smaller than Rumored

    Dell Layoffs Confirmed; Numbers Smaller than Rumored

    Earlier last month, reports leaked stating that Dell was preparing to layoff a massive amount of its workers worldwide. The Register, a British technology website, stated on January 9th that Dell would layoff 20% of its U.S.-based sales members, while also relieving 30% of its sales and marketing staff in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. These numbers would mean that over 15,000 Dell employees would lose their job.

    However, actual statements have now been released from Dell which show that the rumors wildly exaggerated the situation. Sources close to those at recode.net have divulged information which reports that around 2,000-3,000 workers will be laid off by Dell, much lower than the 15,000 figure being tossed around at the beginning of the year.

    Along with this new information from insider sources come a statement from head of communication David Frink, in which he sheds some light on Dell’s decision and future plans:

    “We can confirm that a small percentage of Dell’s global team members accepted the company’s offer of a significant severance package associated with a voluntary separation program. We’ve taken steps to optimize our business, streamline operations and improve our efficiency over the past few years. And, like any prudent business, we’ll continue to do so. Meanwhile, we’re hiring in strategic areas of our business, including hardware and software development, engineering and customer coverage worldwide… Reports that we have laid off as many as 15,000 are wildly inaccurate.”

    The severance package which Frink mentions consists of 2 months of pay plus an extra week of pay for each year employed by Dell, along with a 75% bonus in pay, COBRA health insurance for 18 more months, and outplacement services.

    The layoffs come just months after Michael Dell and an investment firm bought all of Dell’s stock shares, effectively making the company private. The move was made with the mindset that it would allow Dell to focus on long-term, enterprise solutions, following massive declines in PC sales due to the rise of tablets and mobile devices.

    Image via Facebook

  • Penney Store Closings And Job Cuts To Save Company $65 Million

    This past Wednesday, J.C. Penney announced it would be closing down 33 stores throughout the nation and cutting 2,000 jobs. The changes are part of an effort to save nearly $65 million each year.

    J.C. Penney Ceo, Myron Ullman III, stated recently, “As we continue to progress toward long-term profitable growth, it is necessary to re-examine the financial performance of our store portfolio and adjust our national footprint accordingly.”

    Ullman recently returned to his CEO position with the company after Ron Johnson was fired from the position. The company has experienced ongoing financial turbulence for the past few years while attempting new retail tactics. During Johnson’s time as CEO, an attempt to restructure the company’s strategy included replacing sales and promotions with everyday low prices. This move devastated revenue and the retail giant saw its stock drop by almost 80% in two years.

    Now, Penny has claimed it will shut down stores that are underperforming. However, some analysts and industry experts are suspicious of how effective a cut of 33 stores out of 1,100 locations will really be. Given its current struggle, some surmise this move won’t be sufficient to generate a significant improvement.

    “The hole is too deep,” claimed Burt P. Flickinger III, of the Strategic Resource Group consulting company. He added, “This is a warning shot across the bow to landlords to try to provide accommodations or concessions, like on common area maintenance charges or lease reductions.”

    Ken Nisch, chairman of JGA retail consultants, seems to disagree. Nisch observed that many other chains are getting rid of stores in the less frequented malls. As Penney’s closings will represent such a small fraction of their total locations, he claims, “If (the company’s performance) was really bad, they would be closing 100 stores.”

    Despite the company’s two-paragraph statement last week claiming that it was “pleased” with its holiday performance, there was a lack of any additional real supporting information. Stock subsequently went down, as many assumed the silence was really due to unfavorable sales results Penney didn’t want to divulge.

    Closings are expected to take place by May of this year.

    Image via Youtube

  • Macy’s Cuts Jobs Despite Successful Christmas Sales

    Bad news for Macy’s employees. The retailer announced on Thursday that it will be laying off about 2500 of its employees despite having successful earnings over the Christmas season. Macy’s announced that it intends to close a total of 5 stores in Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, New York and Utah by this spring. In addition to giving some employees the boot, the remaining staff will take on additional duties or be transferred, Macy’s said. The decision is expected to save the company $100 million — adding a big boost to its bottom line.

    The news will likely be disheartening for its employees, especially given the stagnant U.S. job market.

    On Wednesday Macy’s CEO Terry J. Lundgren said that consumers gave it a “vote of confidence” during the holidays, “even in a questionable macroeconomic environment with challenging weather in multiple states.” Macy’s saw an increase in sales of 3.6 percent from the months of November through December for stores that were open for more than a year. The increase was 4.3 percent when third party licensee departments were included.

    It did, however, adjust its predictions for this year’s second half saying that “same-store” (stores open for more than a year) sales increased 2.8 to 2.9 percent instead of 2.5 to 4 percent. Nonetheless, that translates to 2.3 to 2.5 percent growth in the fourth quarter, said the company. This year should see earnings of $4.40 to $4.50 per share.

    This earnings projections seem brilliant for Macy’s and its investors but not quite as glowing for the folks who are soon to find themselves without a job. However, one bright spot could be found when Macy’s said it will continue to hire employees in its online operations, direct-to-consumer fulfillment outfit, and new stores.

    Image via Wikipedia

  • Pixar Layoffs Affect Nearly Five Percent Due to “The Good Dinosaur” Delay

    Pixar Layoffs Affect Nearly Five Percent Due to “The Good Dinosaur” Delay

    Walt Disney Studio’s subunit, Pixar Animation Studios, has laid-off nearly five percent of its workforce due to delays of an impending film, “The Good Dinosaur.”

    Approximately 60 out of 1,200 workers at the Emeryville, Calif., location was cut from the project.

    In August, the original director, Bob Peterson, was removed from the film. Then a month later, the movie’s release date was pushed back from May 30, 2014 to Nov. 25, 2015.

    It’s clear that Pixar is undergoing a lot of changes. In October, Pixar Canada shut down after only three years, which a Disney spokesman claimed was the result of a decision to move all further operations to Emeryville.

    “A decision was made to refocus operations and resources under the one roof,” Barb Matheson told The Province. “Staff [was] just told today. Not great news, obviously. It was just a refocusing of efforts and resources to the one facility.”

    After 80 layoffs and the shut down of Pixar Vancouver Studios, this is yet another episode that the business hopes to use as a way to improve their company’s performance.

    “At Pixar, we are constantly re-evaluating the creative and business needs of our studio,” a Pixar representative reported to Los Angeles Times. “With the release date change of ‘The Good Dinosaur,’ we have realigned our production and support priorities, which includes a small reduction in our staffing levels.”

    Pixar is known for numerous successful films such as, “Toy Story”, “Finding Nemo” and “Monsters Inc.” However, this will be the first time since 2005 that the company doesn’t release a yearly film.

    “The Good Dinosaur” is said to be a very humorous film that paints a fairytale of asteroids never hitting Earth, ultimately resulting in humans and dinosaurs living together in harmony. Arlo, a loving Apatosaurus, goes on a journey that leads him to his human companion named Spot.

    The upcoming film is to be co-directed by Peter Sohn. Voice actors include Frances McDormand, Neil Patrick Harris, and John Lithgow.

    Image Credit: Youtube, Watchit Dekho

  • Acer CEO Resigns, Layoffs Announced

    Acer is one of the top worldwide PC brands, but that hasn’t insulated the company from the recent downturn in the PC market caused by the growth of mobile technologies. Acer this week announced major changes to its executive structure and a restructuring plan that includes massive layoffs.

    Acer Chairman and CEO J.T. Wang has announced he will be stepping down as the company’s CEO. He will also be resigning his chairmanship sometime in June 2014. Acer President Jim Wong will take over the CEO position starting January 1, 2014.

    “Acer encountered many complicated and harsh challenges in the past few years. With the consecutive poor financial results, it is time for me to hand over the responsibility to a new leadership team to path the way for a new era,” said Wang. “Together with the management team, we have crafted a far-reaching plan for Acer’s transformation. I wish to thank the board members for their support and to Jim for assuming the CEO duties. I feel optimistic toward Acer’s future.”

    In addition to the management changes, Acer has announced its intention to under go a massive restructuring effort. Board member Stan Shih and Acer co-founder George Huang will lead a committee to formulate the restructuring plan, which Acer stated could change its “company vision, strategy, and execution plans.”

    Current restructuring plans include layoffs and product plan terminations. The plan terminations are expected to cost the company $150 million in the upcoming quarter. The layoffs, which are predicted to affect 7% of Acer employees worldwide, are predicted to save the company $100 million per year.

    “After making structural adjustments, we will introduce more competitive products within the existing PC, tablet, and smartphone business and stabilize our market share,” said Shih. “This will be the basis of our transformation and for developing new business opportunities.”

    (Image courtesy Acer)

  • Latest BlackBerry Layoffs Have Begun

    Latest BlackBerry Layoffs Have Begun

    As BlackBerry prepares for a possible $4.7 billion buyout, the company is getting itself into shape for both the sale and a shift in focus to its enterprise solutions offerings. In addition to the possible sale of some of its Ontario real estate, part of this process involves another round of huge layoffs that will see as much as 40% of the company’s already-reduced workforce depart.

    The layoffs are set to take place in batches over the next few months, and the first round of those cuts has now begun. The Globe and Mail this week reported that BlackBerry on Monday began laying off off around 300 employees from its Waterloo, Ontario facilities.

    A BlackBerry spokesperson was quoted by the publication as saying the company is “in a period of transition” and that the cuts will help “enhance” its financial results to better compete in the mobile space. The company also stated that it recognizes the “difficulty of this news.”

    BlackBerry is expected to release a total of at least 4,500 employees in this latest round of layoffs. This will put the company’s estimated workforce at fewer than 8,000 total employees. In the Spring of 2012, BlackBerry had announced its total workforce as more than 16,000 employees.

    The layoffs had been announced even before the BlackBerry buyout deal was made public. The deal would put BlackBerry in control of a group of investors led by FairFax Financial Holdings. The group’s due diligence period is expected to end on November 4, with BlackBerry open to other offers until that time. Late last month BlackBerry released a dismal quarterly report, detailing nearly $1 billion in losses.

    (via BGR)

  • BlackBerry Suffers $1 Billion Lost, Cuts 40% of Staff

    Just five years ago, BlackBerry Limited was at the top of the smart-phone totem pole as a major competitor for the Apple Corporation. BlackBerry dominated consumer and corporate markets, alike. The famous smart-phone affectionately known as the, “CrackBerry,” was a viable component in the political sector as well. President Obama was notorious for always having his BlackBerry within reach.

    However, times just aren’t the same for the smart-phone developer. It’s been a disastrous week for the BlackBerry Corporation. While the gradually wane began in 2007, with the introduction of the iPhone, technology enthusiast predicted that the “Blackberry Killer” would be the company’s downfall. But, no one ever predicted that the downward spiral would be to this magnitude. Their most recent product line of smart-phones feature the BlackBerry 10 operating system, which is a substantially amended version of the tablet’s OS, designed specifically for the future generation of the smart-phone. The Blackberry 10 OS and device received highly ominous reviews among experts and consumers in key markets around the United States.

    While the adverse reviews served as a minimally problematic factor, they did render a warning that forebode an even bigger issue. According to the Wall Street Journal, the unfavorable reviews were followed by the staggering drop in sales, which left the smart-phone developer with an estimate of more than $1 billion dollars worth of unsold phones. With such an enormous set-back, the possibility of breaking even to bridge the gap between manufacturing, distribution, and sales, is highly improbable. With a projected second-quarter loss of approximately $1.6 billion in revenue, BlackBerry did what most companies do when operations are about to dissolve – downsize.

    On Friday, BlackBerry abruptly stalled trading activities of its shares, which has drastically plummeted by 19%, in wake of a desolate announcement. The company informed the public that approximately 40% of its workforce will be terminated as a means to cut cost in their rapidly declining operation. CBS News reports that the employment cut equates to an estimated loss of 4,500 employees, which will leave around 7,000 individuals employed.

    Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of BlackBerry, released a statement in wake of the announcement:

    “We are implementing the difficult, but necessary operational changes announced today to address our position in a maturing and more competitive industry, and to drive the company toward profitability. We plan to refocus our offering on our end-to-end solution of hardware, software and services for enterprises and the productive, professional end user. This puts us squarely on target with the customers that helped build BlackBerry into the leading brand today for enterprise security, manageability and reliability.”

    The drastic executive decision to downsize the company’s staff seems to be one of the early signs of gradual abrogation. Some even feel that BlackBerry’s days in the smart-phone industry are already over.

     

    Image via NB44

  • More Huge Layoffs Coming to BlackBerry

    More Huge Layoffs Coming to BlackBerry

    Throughout 2012, BlackBerry (RIM at the time) laid off thousands of workers in an attempt to shore up quarterly numbers. The company was still months away from the reveal of its BlackBerry 10 smartphones, and analysts had begun writing the company off.

    BlackBerry made it to January and unveiled its smartphones, which the company believed would revitalize its sales and put it back into the mobile phone race. That hasn’t proved out, and BlackBerry is now struggling financially. The company announced last month that it is now exploring “strategic alternatives,” including a possible sale of the company.

    While last year’s layoffs were only several-thousand employees in a few batches throughout the year, this year’s cuts will be much more drastic. The Wall Street Journal this week reported that BlackBerry will be laying off up to 40% of its already reduced workforce by the end of the year. According to BlackBerry’s latest workforce estimates (12,500 as of March of this year), 40% of its current staff would be over 5,000 employees. The company still employed over 16,000 workers as of spring 2012.

    The report’s unnamed “people familiar with the matter,” stated that the layoffs will occur much as they did last year, with batches of several thousand being let go over time. The Wall Street Journal also previously reported that smaller batches of layoffs occurred in BlackBerry’s R&D division throughout the summer.

  • Since Layoffs, StumbleUpon Has Been Actively Hiring, Adding Engineers

    It wasn’t exactly a great start to the new year for StumbleUpon back in January, when the company laid off 30% of its staff, but that was a long time ago in Internet time, and the company has since been hiring, including some new execs and engineers.

    StumbleUpon’s Mike Mayzel told WebProNews back when the cuts were made that the company was restructuring to enable it to become “more streamlined, focused and to better execute” against its goals.

    “As a result of these changes, the company will be profitable and will operate more quickly and efficiently and experiment more aggressively,” he said. “We continue to grow and remain focused on providing the best discovery experience on the Web.”

    Since then, it’s been a fairly quiet year in StumbleUpon news. They hosted an Oscars contest, and got a new content delivery network, but there really hasn’t been much in the way of product announcements. Nothing like last year, when they launched new mobile and tablet apps, as well as a new desktop experience.

    “We’ve been heads down working on our product (both desktop and mobile),” Mayzel says.

    Cody Simms, the guy behind last year’s app launches, by the way, has left the company. TechCrunch reported earlier this month that he would transition to an advisory role, but wanted to move back to his home, which the StumbleUpon job took him away from. Here’s a statement from he gave the blog:

    StumbleUpon has a great mission and team, an innovative business model and is solving an incredibly interesting problem. My family and I recently made the decision, however, to return to family and friends in Los Angeles. As a StumbleUpon management team, we’ve worked together to ensure a clean transition during this time, and we’re excited to say that David Marks joined StumbleUpon just recently to take on the the role of VP Product.

    Marks is co-founder of Lumia, where he was also CEO and CTO. He joined StumbleUpon late last month as the new VP of Product.

    “Since the restructuring we have been actively hiring with a primary focus on engineering and product,” Mayzel now tells us. “We have filled several roles including a head of user experience (Shawn Elson), a VP of Product (David Marks) and several software engineers (Pam Lu-Stone and John Landahl, to name two). We continue to hire and have a number of open roles at the company.”

    Elson also joined in July, and previously worked at Workday, where he managed and designed for social and mobile. He managed his own UX consulting firm, Elson User Experience, which worked with the likes of Adobe, eBay, PayPal, Apple, Zynga, Tend Micro, LG, and others. He also worked on UX at Verisign and even Netscape.

    Open positions at StumbleUpon include jobs in business development, content quality, design, engineering and operations. You can see the specific positions here, but as the company notes on its Jobs page, it is also accepting general applications for those who are interested, but don’t see listed positions that they want.

    Benefits the company offers employees include breakfast and lunch, commuter reimbursement, gym/wellness reimbursement, company match for charitable gifts, a $100 monthly credit for the Uber car service, holiday shutdown and paid vacation, 401k match, “generous” family medical coverage, life/disability insurance, a kitchen stocked with snacks, quarterly team outings, an art program, and an onsite massage therapist.

    Mayzel says StumbleUpon currently has over 30 million registered users and 100,000 advertisers. The average time spent per Stumble session, he says, is 30 minutes, and on average, users spend 3.5 hours a month using StumbleUpon in general.

    The company is also currently holding a contest for data scientists, challenging them to design an algorithm to make StumbleUpon better at recognizing evergreen content. The winner, in addition to a cash prize, gets a chance to intern at the company. More on that here.

    Image: StumbleUpon

  • Cisco Layoffs And Guidance Send Stock Down Despite Earnings Hit

    Cisco released its Q4 and fiscal year 2013 earnings on Wednesday, along with plans to lay off 4,000 employees. While the earnings managed to meet analysts’ expectations, the company’s stock is suffering on news of the job cuts.

    The layoffs, which the company is calling a “workforce rebalancing” will begin starting next quarter, and will amount to about 5% of Cisco’s workforce.

    All Things D’s Arik Hesseldahl spoke with CEO John Chambers, and shares this quote:

    “The primary reason is that as a company we’re rebalancing our work force to meet the opportunities.”

    The company’s revenue was up 6% year over year at $12.4 billion for the quarter. For the year, it was also up 6% at $48.6 billion.

    As of the time of this writing, Cisco shares are at $24.41 (-1.97‎, -7.48%‎).

    Here’s the company’s earnings release in its entirety:

    SAN JOSE, CA — August 14, 2013 – Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO)

    • Q4 Revenue: $12.4 billion (increase of 6% year over year)
    • Q4 Earnings per Share: $0.42 GAAP; $0.52 non-GAAP
    • FY 2013 Revenue: $48.6 billion (increase of 6% year over year)
    • FY 2013 Earnings per Share: $1.86 GAAP; $2.02 non-GAAP

    Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, today reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year results for the period ended July 27, 2013. Cisco reported fourth quarter revenue of $12.4 billion, net income on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis of $2.3 billion or $0.42 per share, and non-GAAP net income of $2.8 billion or $0.52 per share.

    “My confidence in our ability to be the #1 IT Company is increasing. Our fourth quarter was a record on many fronts, with record revenue, and record non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP net income, and non-GAAP earnings per share. In every case, we exceeded the midpoint of our guidance. We also generated $4 billion in operating cash flow in the quarter, another record,” stated Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers.

    “Now, more than ever, our customers and our partners want Cisco’s help navigating the inconsistent global landscape successfully. They recognize the benefit of a partner who is not only the leader in their product categories, but can bring technologies and solutions together in an architecture to lower operating costs, reduce time to results, and future proof their investments.”

    Q4 GAAP Results
    Q4 2013 Q4 2012 Vs. Q4 2012
    Revenue $ 12.4 billion $ 11.7 billion 6.2 %
    Net Income $ 2.3 billion $ 1.9 billion 18.4 %
    Earnings per Share $ 0.42 $ 0.36 16.7 %
    Q4 Non-GAAP Results
    Q4 2013 Q4 2012 Vs. Q4 2012
    Net Income $ 2.8 billion $ 2.5 billion 12.7 %
    Earnings per Share $ 0.52 $ 0.47 10.6 %
    Fiscal Year GAAP Results
    FY 2013 FY 2012 Vs. FY 2012
    Revenue $ 48.6 billion $ 46.1 billion 5.5 %
    Net Income $ 10.0 billion $ 8.0 billion 24.2 %
    Earnings per Share $ 1.86 $ 1.49 24.8 %
    Fiscal Year Non-GAAP Results
    FY 2013 FY 2012 Vs. FY 2012
    Net Income $ 10.9 billion $ 10.0 billion 8.5 %
    Earnings per Share $ 2.02 $ 1.85 9.2 %

    GAAP net income and GAAP earnings per share for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended July 27, 2013 include the previously disclosed charge of $0.03 per share for the TiVo, Inc. (“TiVo”) patent litigation settlement. This charge was excluded from non-GAAP earnings per share. A reconciliation between net income on a GAAP basis and non-GAAP net income is provided in the table below.

    Cisco will discuss fourth quarter and fiscal year 2013 results and business outlook on a conference call and webcast at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today. Call information and related charts are available at http://investor.cisco.com.

    Cash and Cash Equivalents and Investments

    • Cash flows from operations were $4.0 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, compared with $3.1 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2013, and compared with $3.1 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012. Cash flows from operations were $12.9 billion for fiscal 2013, compared with $11.5 billion for fiscal 2012.
    • Cash and cash equivalents and investments were $50.6 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, compared with $47.4 billion at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2013, and compared with $48.7 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012.

    Dividends and Stock Repurchase Program

    • During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013:
      • Cisco paid a cash dividend of $0.17 per common share, or $918 million.
      • Cisco repurchased approximately 47 million shares of common stock under the stock repurchase program at an average price of $24.80 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $1.2 billion.
    • During fiscal year 2013:
      • Cisco paid cash dividends in the aggregate amount of $0.62 per common share, or $3.3 billion.
      • Cisco repurchased approximately 128 million shares of common stock under the stock repurchase program at an average price of $21.63 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $2.8 billion. As of July 27, 2013, Cisco had repurchased and retired 3.9 billion shares of Cisco common stock at an average price of $20.40 per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $78.9 billion since the inception of the stock repurchase program. The remaining authorized amount for stock repurchases under this program is approximately $3.1 billion with no termination date.

    “Our financial strategy is working as our profits grew faster than revenue for the full fiscal year,” stated Frank Calderoni, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “Our fourth quarter also delivered solid financial results as we continued to deliver profitable growth to maximize shareholder value for the long-term.”

    Select Global Business Highlights

    • Cisco completed its acquisition of privately held Ubiquisys Limited, a leading provider of intelligent 3G and long-term evolution (LTE) small-cell technologies designed to provide seamless connectivity across mobile heterogeneous networks for service providers.
    • Cisco completed its acquisition of privately held JouleX, Inc. a leader in enterprise IT energy management for network-attached and data center assets.
    • Cisco announced its intent to acquire privately held Composite Software, Inc., a leader in data virtualization software and services.
    • Cisco announced a definitive agreement to acquire Sourcefire, Inc. a leader in intelligent cybersecurity solutions, with the goal of integrating world-class products, technologies and research teams to provide continuous and pervasive advanced threat protection.
    • Cisco completed its acquisition of SolveDirect Service Management GmbH, a privately held company headquartered in Vienna, Austria that provides innovative, cloud-delivered services management integration software and services.
    • At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Cisco announced it would team with Microsoft to accelerate the deployment of private and hybrid cloud infrastructure worldwide.
    • Cisco released an Internet of Everything (IoE) Value Index study predicting that the IoE-the networked connection of people, process, data and things-is expected to enable global private-sector businesses to generate at least $613 billion in global profits in 2013.

    Cisco Innovation

    • Cisco introduced the Carrier Routing System-X (CRS-X), its newest addition to the industry-leading CRS family. The CRS-X is designed to provide unmatched economical scale and lasting investment protection to more than 750 customers worldwide, including global telecommunications service providers and organizations.
    • Cisco announced that it has opened an innovation center in Israel in collaboration with Pelephone Communications Ltd., an Israeli telecom service provider, to develop and deploy a radio network topology for handling the surge in demand for mobile Internet services.
    • Cisco announced the evolution of its network services strategy for virtual and cloud networks by integrating the market-leading Citrix® NetScaler® application delivery controller (ADC) technology into the Cisco Unified Fabric Cloud Network Services portfolio.
    • At Cisco Live! in Orlando, Cisco unveiled a new data center networking architecture designed to usher in the era of Application-Centric Infrastructure by transforming data centers to better address the demands of new and current applications in the cloud era.
    • Cisco took another significant step in the evolution of its networking portfolio, introducing new and updated Cisco Catalyst® switching and Integrated Services Router products that provide high-performing, fully programmable enterprise networking solutions.

    Select Customer Announcements

    • Cisco announced that it was selected by Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) to accelerate deployment of VHA’s 4G long-term evolution (LTE) network with the Cisco® ASR 5500 as the mobile multimedia core platform.
    • Cisco announced that Manchester City will be the first Premier League team to offer Cisco Connected Stadium Wi-Fi and StadiumVision™ Mobile solutions.
    • Cisco announced that Czech telecommunications operator T-Mobile has chosen the Cisco ASR 5000 Series to manage its mobile data traffic from the new LTE network, together with existing 2G and 3G networks.
    • The Universidad San Sebastián in Chile has updated its voice, data and wireless connectivity using Cisco technology to serve more than 26,000 students and 2,500 teachers.
    • Cisco announced that TIM Brazil, one of Brazil’s leading service providers, has selected Cisco Videoscape™ Distribution Suite Transparent Caching (VDS-TC) to enable the delivery of video content across multiple screens, protocols, applications and networks.
    • Cisco announced that Polymetal, a leading precious metals company in Russia and Kazakhstan, has deployed a distributed telephone network based on Cisco Unified Communications.
    • The University of Virginia Center for Telehealth was selected as the first member of the Cisco Healthcare Center of Excellence program.
    • The Stock Exchange of Thailand has implemented Cisco’s Data Center architecture to increase operational flexibility and streamline its online trading platform.
    • By using the Cisco service provider Wi-Fi solution, Hong Kong telecommunications service provider PCCW-HKT became the first service provider in the Greater China region to deploy the next-generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi network.
    • Cisco announced that Vodafone India, one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, will be deploying Cisco’s end-to-end networking solutions to evolve to a complete IP-based architecture in India.

    Editor’s Note:

    • The Q4 and fiscal year 2013 conference call to discuss Cisco’s results along with its business outlook will be held on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Conference call number is1-888-848-6507 (United States) or 1-212-519-0847 (international).
    • Conference call replay will be available from 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time, August 14, 2013 to 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time, August 21, 2013 at 1-866-507-3618 (United States) or 1-203-369-1892 (international). The replay will also be available via webcast from August 14, 2013 through October 21, 2013 on the Cisco Investor Relations website at http://investor.cisco.com.
    • Additional information regarding Cisco’s financials, as well as a webcast of the conference call with visuals designed to guide participants through the call, will be available at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, August 14, 2013. Text of the conference call’s prepared remarks will be available within 24 hours of completion of the call. The webcast will include both the prepared remarks and the question-and-answer session. This information, along with GAAP reconciliation information, will be available on the Cisco Investor Relations website athttp://investor.cisco.com.

    About Cisco
    Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. For ongoing news, please go to http://thenetwork.cisco.com.

    This release may be deemed to contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding future events (such as our ability to be the #1 IT company; the desire of our customers and partners for Cisco’s help to successfully navigate the inconsistent global landscape; the benefits to our customers of our leadership in their product categories and our ability to bring technologies and solutions together in an architecture to lower operating costs and accomplish other business objectives; our financial strategy and our ability to continue profitable growth to maximize shareholder value for the long term; and the expectation that the Internet of Everything (IoE) will enable global private-sector businesses to generate profits) and the future financial performance of Cisco that involve risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results due to a variety of factors, including: business and economic conditions and growth trends in the networking industry, our customer markets and various geographic regions; global economic conditions and uncertainties in the geopolitical environment; overall information technology spending; the growth and evolution of the Internet and levels of capital spending on Internet-based systems; variations in customer demand for products and services, including sales to the service provider market and other customer markets; the return on our investments in certain priorities, including our foundational priorities, and in certain geographical locations; the timing of orders and manufacturing and customer lead times; changes in customer order patterns or customer mix; insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; variability of component costs; variations in sales channels, product costs or mix of products sold; our ability to successfully acquire businesses and technologies and to successfully integrate and operate these acquired businesses and technologies; our ability to achieve expected benefits of our partnerships; increased competition in our product and service markets, including the data center; dependence on the introduction and market acceptance of new product offerings and standards; rapid technological and market change; manufacturing and sourcing risks; product defects and returns; litigation involving patents, intellectual property, antitrust, shareholder and other matters, and governmental investigations; natural catastrophic events; a pandemic or epidemic; our ability to achieve the benefits anticipated from our investments in sales, engineering, service, marketing and manufacturing activities; our ability to recruit and retain key personnel; our ability to manage financial risk, and to manage expenses during economic downturns; risks related to the global nature of our operations, including our operations in emerging markets; currency fluctuations and other international factors; changes in provision for income taxes, including changes in tax laws and regulations or adverse outcomes resulting from examinations of our income tax returns; potential volatility in operating results; and other factors listed in Cisco’s most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed on September 12, 2012 and May 21, 2013, respectively. The financial information contained in this release should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in Cisco’s most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q as each may be amended from time to time. Cisco’s results of operations for the three months and the year ended July 27, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of Cisco’s operating results for any future periods. Any projections in this release are based on limited information currently available to Cisco, which is subject to change. Although any such projections and the factors influencing them will likely change, Cisco will not necessarily update the information, since Cisco will only provide guidance at certain points during the year. Such information speaks only as of the date of this release.

    This release includes non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP effective tax rates, non-GAAP net income per share data and non-GAAP inventory turns.

    These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative for, measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. In addition, these non-GAAP measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. Cisco believes that non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with Cisco’s results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP and that these measures should only be used to evaluate Cisco’s results of operations in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures.

    Cisco believes that the presentation of non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP effective tax rates, and non-GAAP net income per share data, when shown in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures, provides useful information to investors and management regarding financial and business trends relating to its financial condition and results of operations. In addition, Cisco believes that the presentation of non-GAAP inventory turns provides useful information to investors and management regarding financial and business trends relating to inventory management based on the operating activities of the period presented.

    For its internal budgeting process, Cisco’s management uses financial statements that do not include, when applicable, share-based compensation expense, amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, impact to cost of sales from purchase accounting adjustments to inventory, other acquisition-related/divestiture costs, significant asset impairments and restructurings, significant litigation settlements (such as the patent litigation settlement with TiVo in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013), the income tax effects of the foregoing, and significant tax matters. Cisco’s management also uses the foregoing non-GAAP measures, in addition to the corresponding GAAP measures, in reviewing the financial results of Cisco. In prior periods, Cisco has excluded other items that it no longer excludes for purposes of its non-GAAP financial measures. From time to time in the future there may be other items, such as significant gains or losses from contingencies that Cisco may exclude for purposes of its internal budgeting process and in reviewing its financial results.

    For additional information on the items excluded by Cisco from one or more of its non-GAAP financial measures, refer to the Form 8-K regarding this release furnished today to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Copyright © 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco, the Cisco logo, Catalyst, Cisco StadiumVision, and Cisco Videoscape are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

    CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
    (In millions, except per-share amounts)
    (Unaudited)
    Three Months Ended Fiscal Year Ended
    July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012    		 July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012
    REVENUE:
    Product $ 9,736 $ 9,150 $ 38,029 $ 36,326
    Service 2,681 2,540 10,578 9,735
    Total revenue 12,417 11,690 48,607 46,061
    COST OF SALES:
    Product 4,154 3,729 15,541 14,505
    Service 916 876 3,626 3,347
    Total cost of sales 5,070 4,605 19,167 17,852
    GROSS MARGIN 7,347 7,085 29,440 28,209
    OPERATING EXPENSES:
    Research and development 1,517 1,416 5,942 5,488
    Sales and marketing 2,360 2,417 9,538 9,647
    General and administrative 590 711 2,264 2,322
    Amortization of purchased intangible assets 66 91 395 383
    Restructuring and other charges — 79 105 304
    Total operating expenses 4,533 4,714 18,244 18,144
    OPERATING INCOME 2,814 2,371 11,196 10,065
    Interest income 171 167 654 650
    Interest expense (143 ) (147 ) (583 ) (596 )
    Other income (loss), net 29 (5 ) (40 ) 40
    Interest and other income, net 57 15 31 94
    INCOME BEFORE PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES 2,871 2,386 11,227 10,159
    Provision for income taxes 601 469 1,244 2,118
    NET INCOME $ 2,270 $ 1,917 $ 9,983 $ 8,041
    Net income per share:
    Basic $ 0.42 $ 0.36 $ 1.87 $ 1.50
    Diluted $ 0.42 $ 0.36 $ 1.86 $ 1.49
    Shares used in per-share calculation
    Basic 5,367 5,332 5,329 5,370
    Diluted 5,437 5,354 5,380 5,404
    Cash dividends declared per common share $ 0.17 $ 0.08 $ 0.62 $ 0.28
    RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP NET INCOME
    (In millions, except per-share amounts)
    Three Months Ended Fiscal Year Ended
    July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012    		 July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012
    GAAP net income $ 2,270 $ 1,917 $ 9,983 $ 8,041
    Adjustments to cost of sales:
    Share-based compensation expense 42 54 178 209
    Amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets 153 100 569 376
    Impact to cost of sales from purchase accounting adjustments to inventory — — 40 —
    TiVo patent litigation settlement (1) 172 — 172 —
    Other acquisition-related/divestiture costs 1 — 1 —
    Significant asset impairments and restructurings — (5 ) — (31 )
    Total adjustments to GAAP cost of sales 368 149 960 554
    Adjustments to operating expenses:
    Share-based compensation expense 198 313 947 1,192
    Amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets 66 91 395 383
    Other acquisition-related/divestiture costs 59 7 129 36
    Significant asset impairments and restructurings — 281 55 506
    Total adjustments to GAAP operating expenses 323 692 1,526 2,117
    Total adjustments to GAAP income before provision for income taxes 691 841 2,486 2,671
    Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments (114 ) (231 ) (620 ) (695 )
    Significant tax matters (2) — — (983 ) —
    Total adjustments to GAAP provision for income taxes (114 ) (231 ) (1,603 ) (695 )
    Non-GAAP net income $ 2,847 $ 2,527 $ 10,866 $ 10,017
    Diluted net income per share:
    GAAP $ 0.42 $ 0.36 $ 1.86 $ 1.49
    Non-GAAP $ 0.52 $ 0.47 $ 2.02 $ 1.85
    (1) Pursuant to the terms of the previously disclosed settlement and patent license agreement, Cisco paid TiVo a single lump sum of $294 million. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, Cisco recorded a charge of $172 million in connection with this agreement. Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended July 27, 2013 excluded this charge.
    (2) For the fiscal year ended July 27, 2013, Cisco recorded a net tax benefit of $983 million. This net tax benefit is comprised of an Internal Revenue Service settlement of $794 million, the retroactive reinstatement of the U.S. federal R&D tax credit of $72 million and a tax benefit of $117 million related to prior fiscal years. Non-GAAP net income excluded this net tax benefit of $983 million.
    RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP EFFECTIVE TAX RATE
    Three Months Ended Fiscal Year Ended
    July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012    		 July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012
    GAAP effective tax rate 20.9 % 19.7 % 11.1 % 20.8 %
    Tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments to net income (0.8 )% 2.0 % 9.7 % 1.1 %
    Non-GAAP effective tax rate 20.1 % 21.7 % 20.8 % 21.9 %
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (In millions)
    (Unaudited)
    July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012
    ASSETS
    Current assets:
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 7,925 $ 9,799
    Investments 42,685 38,917
    Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $228 at July 27, 2013 and $207 at July 28, 2012 5,470 4,369
    Inventories 1,476 1,663
    Financing receivables, net 4,037 3,661
    Deferred tax assets 2,616 2,294
    Other current assets 1,312 1,230
    Total current assets 65,521 61,933
    Property and equipment, net 3,322 3,402
    Financing receivables, net 3,911 3,585
    Goodwill 21,919 16,998
    Purchased intangible assets, net 3,403 1,959
    Other assets 3,115 3,882
    TOTAL ASSETS $ 101,191 $ 91,759
    LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
    Current liabilities:
    Short-term debt $ 3,283 $ 31
    Accounts payable 1,029 859
    Income taxes payable 192 276
    Accrued compensation 3,378 2,928
    Deferred revenue 9,262 8,852
    Other current liabilities 5,048 4,785
    Total current liabilities 22,192 17,731
    Long-term debt 12,928 16,297
    Income taxes payable 1,748 1,844
    Deferred revenue 4,161 4,028
    Other long-term liabilities 1,034 558
    Total liabilities 42,063 40,458
    Total equity 59,128 51,301
    TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY $ 101,191 $ 91,759
    CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
    (In millions)
    (Unaudited)
    Fiscal Year Ended
    July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012
    Cash flows from operating activities:
    Net income $ 9,983 $ 8,041
    Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
    Depreciation, amortization, and other 2,351 2,602
    Share-based compensation expense 1,120 1,401
    Provision for receivables 44 50
    Deferred income taxes (37 ) (314 )
    Excess tax benefits from share-based compensation (92 ) (60 )
    Net losses (gains) on investments 9 (31 )
    Change in operating assets and liabilities, net of effects of acquisitions and divestitures:
    Accounts receivable (1,001 ) 272
    Inventories 218 (287 )
    Financing receivables (723 ) (846 )
    Other assets (27 ) (674 )
    Accounts payable 164 (7 )
    Income taxes, net (239 ) 418
    Accrued compensation 330 (101 )
    Deferred revenue 598 727
    Other liabilities 196 300
    Net cash provided by operating activities 12,894 11,491
    Cash flows from investing activities:
    Purchases of investments (36,608 ) (41,810 )
    Proceeds from sales of investments 14,799 27,365
    Proceeds from maturities of investments 17,909 12,103
    Acquisition of property and equipment (1,160 ) (1,126 )
    Acquisition of businesses, net of cash and cash equivalents acquired (6,766 ) (375 )
    Purchases of investments in privately held companies (225 ) (380 )
    Return of investments in privately held companies 209 242
    Other 74 166
    Net cash used in investing activities (11,768 ) (3,815 )
    Cash flows from financing activities:
    Issuances of common stock 3,338 1,372
    Repurchases of common stock – repurchase program (2,773 ) (4,560 )
    Shares repurchased for tax withholdings on vesting of restricted stock units (330 ) (200 )
    Short-term borrowings, maturities less than 90 days, net (20 ) (557 )
    Issuances of debt, maturities greater than 90 days 24 —
    Repayments of debt, maturities greater than 90 days (16 ) —
    Excess tax benefits from share-based compensation 92 60
    Dividends paid (3,310 ) (1,501 )
    Other (5 ) (153 )
    Net cash used in financing activities (3,000 ) (5,539 )
    Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents (1,874 ) 2,137
    Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of fiscal year 9,799 7,662
    Cash and cash equivalents, end of fiscal year $ 7,925 $ 9,799
    Cash paid for:
    Interest $ 682 $ 681
    Income taxes, net $ 1,519 $ 2,014
    ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION
    (In millions)
    (Unaudited)
    July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012
    Cash and Cash Equivalents and Investments:
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 7,925 $ 9,799
    Fixed income securities 39,888 37,297
    Publicly traded equity securities 2,797 1,620
    Total $ 50,610 $ 48,716
    Inventories:
    Raw materials $ 105 $ 127
    Work in process 24 35
    Finished goods:
    Distributor inventory and deferred cost of sales 572 630
    Manufactured finished goods 480 597
    Total finished goods 1,052 1,227
    Service-related spares 256 213
    Demonstration systems 39 61
    Total $ 1,476 $ 1,663
    Property and equipment, net:
    Land, buildings, and building and leasehold improvements $ 4,426 $ 4,363
    Computer equipment and related software 1,416 1,469
    Production, engineering, and other equipment 5,721 5,364
    Operating lease assets 326 300
    Furniture and fixtures 497 487
    12,386 11,983
    Less accumulated depreciation and amortization (9,064 ) (8,581 )
    Total $ 3,322 $ 3,402
    Other assets:
    Deferred tax assets $ 1,539 $ 2,270
    Investments in privately held companies 833 858
    Other 743 754
    Total $ 3,115 $ 3,882
    Deferred revenue:
    Service $ 9,403 $ 9,173
    Product:
    Unrecognized revenue on product shipments and other deferred revenue 3,340 2,975
    Cash receipts related to unrecognized revenue from two-tier distributors 680 732
    Total product deferred revenue 4,020 3,707
    Total $ 13,423 $ 12,880
    Reported as:
    Current $ 9,262 $ 8,852
    Noncurrent 4,161 4,028
    Total $ 13,423 $ 12,880
    SUMMARY OF SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION EXPENSE
    (In millions)
    Three Months Ended Fiscal Year Ended
    July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012    		 July 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012
    Cost of sales – product $ 9 $ 14 $ 40 $ 53
    Cost of sales – service 33 40 138 156
    Share-based compensation expense in cost of sales 42 54 178 209
    Research and development 58 104 286 401
    Sales and marketing 101 159 484 588
    General and administrative 39 50 175 203
    Restructuring and other charges — 2 (3 ) —
    Share-based compensation expense in operating expenses 198 315 942 1,192
    Total share-based compensation expense $ 240 $ 369 $ 1,120 $ 1,401
    Income tax benefit for share-based compensation $ 53 $ 64 $ 285 $ 335
    ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE AND DSO
    (In millions, except DSO)
    July 27,
    2013    		 April 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012
    Accounts receivable, net $ 5,470 $ 4,942 $ 4,369
    Days sales outstanding in accounts receivable (DSO) 40 37 34
    INVENTORY TURNS AND RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP
    COST OF SALES USED IN INVENTORY TURNS
    (In millions, except annualized inventory turns)
    Three Months Ended
    July 27,
    2013    		 April 27,
    2013    		 July 28,
    2012
    Annualized inventory turns – GAAP 13.8 12.4 11.7
    Cost of sales adjustments (1.0 ) (0.5 ) (0.4 )
    Annualized inventory turns – non-GAAP 12.8 11.9 11.3
    GAAP cost of sales $ 5,070 $ 4,705 $ 4,605
    Cost of sales adjustments:
    Share-based compensation expense (42 ) (44 ) (54 )
    Amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets (153 ) (146 ) (100 )
    TiVo patent litigation settlement (172 ) — —
    Other acquisition-related/divestiture costs (1 ) — —
    Significant asset impairments and restructurings — — 5
    Non-GAAP cost of sales $ 4,702 $ 4,515 $ 4,456
    DIVIDENDS PAID AND REPURCHASE OF COMMON STOCK
    (In millions, except dividends paid per common share)
    Three Months Ended Fiscal Year Ended
    July 27,
    2013    		 April 27,
    2013    		 January 26,
    2013    		 October 27,
    2012    		 July 27,
    2013
    Dividends paid $ 918 $ 905 $ 743 $ 744 $ 3,310
    Repurchase of common stock under the stock repurchase program 1,160 860 500 253 2,773
    Total $ 2,078 $ 1,765 $ 1,243 $ 997 $ 6,083
    Dividends paid per common share $ 0.17 $ 0.17 $ 0.14 $ 0.14 $ 0.62

    Image: World Economic Forum (Wikimedia Commons)

  • Heinz Announces 600 Layoffs In US and Canada

    American food company and condiment titan the H.J. Heinz Co. announced that they will be laying off 600 workers across the United States and Canada. The layoffs will include 350 workers at the company’s home base in Pittsburgh, PA.

    Heinz was bought in June by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital for a reported $23.3 billion. Given the international flair of the deal, it comes as no surprise that is being labeled an efficiency move meant to help the company succeed on a global scale as it moves to being privately held.

    All international aspirations aside, the company has said that it intends to remain headquartered in Pittsburgh, where it is a community staple. Even the home stadium of the Pittsburgh Steelers carries the name in the form of “Heinz Field”. Layoffs breed discontent though, and many people, including those in the Pittsburgh area, are wondering if the move will cause longtime customers to betray their brand loyalty.

    With the move Heinz becomes the latest in a long line of classic American brands that have been purchased and changed into something different, for better or worse. The list includes American beer icon Anheuser-Busch, producer of Budweiser, agreed to be purchase by Belgian giant InBev, creating the largest brewer. While the Heinz move does not carry quite the same weight, it shows the changing tide of American business.

  • IBM Layoffs Having Dramatic Effects Across North America

    IBM has initiated another round of layoffs, and while the national story is concerned with the total number of employees dismissed–anywhere from 6000 to 8000 employees, according to some estimations–if you take a closer look at the towns and cities affected, the story has much more impact. News organizations covering the areas where IBM employees entered unemployment present a much different picture when compared to the simple “statistical casualties of the economy” approach. The local reaction offers a personal look at how these layoffs, which are done to improve a company’s bottom line.

    In New York’s Westchester and Dutchess Counties, IBM’s clean sweep affected more than 700 people. In Ottawa, Canada, another 200 IBM employees were shown the door. Understandably, the word “overjoyed” would not be used to describe the tone:

    CTV Ottawa reporter John Hua has been talking to employees who say the mood inside the campus is “gloomy”. Employees told Hua that up to 20 per cent of the Ottawa staff have received layoff notices. Some have been employed with IBM/Cognos in the capital for more than 30 years.

    Meanwhile, the state of Vermont is waiting to hear how many IBM employees added to that state’s unemployment list:

    Gov. Peter Shumlin said in a statement released by his office, “We heard from IBM today that sites around the United States, including the Essex facility, will be notified of a workforce reorganization that will result in layoffs. I am always concerned when we learn that Vermonters face job losses.”

    Of course, if someone was talented to get a job working for IBM, it stands to reason they have acquired enough skills to be effective at other stops in the technology industry. That being said, most people like to make such decisions voluntarily, not because they were caught in a “workforce remix” whirlwind. Furthermore, if you are one of the employees who was laid off after 30 years of service, changing careers probably didn’t sound like the best idea, at least before the layoffs were announced.

    Thanks to the significant national attention that comes whenever a company like IBM cuts its workforce, many of the local governments for the areas involved are announcing the establishment of programs to assist those who were shown the door.

    Courtesies here, here, and here.

  • PBS Layoffs: NewsHour to Make Some Cuts Amid Lost Corporate Revenue

    PBS’s nearly four decade-old nightly newscast is about to face some serious cuts.

    The New York Times reports that an internal memo from PBS NewsHour’s executive producer Linda Winslow indicates that the show’s producer, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, will be closing two offices and laying off most of their employees at those locations.

    The two offices that will take the hit are located in San Francisco and Denver. PBS NewsHour‘s main office in Washington will also see some cuts – the elimination of “noncritical production positions.”

    Apparently, the cuts come as the show loses support from its corporate sponsors.

    PBS currently lists AT&T, BNSF Railway, and BP as corporate sponsors. They also have a couple dozen foundation funders.

    PBS NewsHour first launched back in 1975 as The Robert MacNeil Report. It later went through a couple other name changes, including The MacNeil/Lehrer Report, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. It’s been called PBS NewsHour since December of 2009.

    That name change in 2009 came with a big push toward a unification of traditional and online content. The show switched to a dual-anchor format and PBS NewsHour merged their on-air and online operations and integrated its reporting teams.

    PBS NewsHour is notable as one of the only hour-long nightly newscasts on American television. The format is also unlike most of what you see on TV – more in-depth coverage and longer segments. PBS NewsHour is also seen internationally, in the U.K., Australia, Japan, and parts of the Middle East.

    “[A]long with sending our own teams in the field, we anticipate building new relationships with a variety of locally based freelance video journalists around the country. Under no circumstances do we intend to abandon the minidocumentary reports that have become so critical to our broadcast. The ‘NewsHour’ remains committed to delivering the same kind of in-depth reporting our viewers and supporters expect from us,” said Winslow in the memo.

  • Blekko Raises New Funding, Reduces Staff

    Blekko has both reduced its staff and raised new funding.

    According to a report from Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land, who had an email exchange with CEO Rich Skrenta, the company laid off eight people earlier this week as part of a cost-reduction effort, but Skrenta reportedly said, “blekko’s revenues are growing and these cost reductions will help us as we work toward profitability.”

    Skrenta also reportedly told Sterling that blekko has closed a a new $6 million round of funding, bringing its total funding to $60 million.

    Last week, blekko announced the launch of a new redesign, which leverages the API the company built for its mobile app izik, and breaks down search results into categories, as well as providing more results per page.

    “Blekko’s new search results page will move away from the standard search result status-quo and introduce a remodeled homepage with an innovative new way to display results,” a spokesperson told WebProNews. ”This new design will break down the spam-free search results into categories that will make it easier than ever for users to sift through human-curated content. The shift away from the customary 10 link search result archetype is the next big step for Blekko.”

    Blekko says its user base is up to 12.5 million, with 5 million searches a day.

  • Chicago Sun-Times Lays Off Its Entire Photography Staff

    In yet another sign of the effect the internet has had on physical newspapers, the Chicago Sun-Times this week announced that it has laid off all of its staff photographers.

    The newspaper released a statement on the move, saying that its audience is “seeking more video content with their news.” The statement, in full:

    The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network.

    According to a Chicago Tribune report, the Sun-Times’ financial situation also heavily contributed to the layoffs. The Tribune cited an unnamed “knowledgeable source” as saying the Sun-Times is not currently profitable due to several recent failed initiatives, such as the short-lived online video segment The Marin Report.

    The Chicago Newspaper Guild, the union that represents many of the laid-off photographers, has stated that it will fight the layoffs. Guild President David Pollard called the move “shocking and disheartning.”

    “The photojournalists that have contributed to this company over the years have been invaluable and it is appalling that the Sun-Times has made such a move that will impact the quality of photojournalism the newspaper produces,” said Pollard.

  • ESPN Layoffs Confirmed, Details Emerging

    Yesterday, rumors began to surface that sports TV news station ESPN will soon be laying off some of its employees. Now, the company, which is owned mainly by The Walt Disney Company, has confirmed that layoffs are incoming. ESPN has released a short statement on the matter:

    We are implementing changes across the company to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing costs. While difficult, we are confident that it will make us more competitive, innovative and productive.

    Though the layoffs have been confirmed, the announcement still hasn’t made it clear how major the cuts will be. It is also not yet known where the cuts will be made within the company.

    According to a Deadspin report, the number of layoffs is rumored to be “in the hundreds,” with 400 employees seeming to be the over/under. The report cites unnamed sources as stating a majority of the layoffs so far have come from “technology” positions. Disney has reportedly put pressure on ESPN to meet its profit margin, encouraging all divisons at the station to cut back on costs. ESPN’s profit margins have reportedly lowered recently due to the station buying the rights to several major live sporting events, including NFL games.

  • Is ESPN Starting A Round of Layoffs?

    Is ESPN Starting A Round of Layoffs?

    Is the worldwide leader in sports getting ready to start cutting some of their fat? If the report at Deadspin is to be believed, the answer is, it certainly looks that way. In fact, the report indicates “hundreds” will be meeting the ax, which, considering the popularity of, well, everything related to sports–especially in the social media world–the move comes as something of a surprise. Regardless of the moves Fox Sports makes (or are in the process of making), the fact is, ESPN is pretty much a monopoly. Sure, there are sports on other channels, but when it comes to brand proliferation, no other televised sports entity compares. So what would cause the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports to consider layoffs, especially in a world where they set the tone, at least regarding sports conversation?

    The Deadspin article features snippets from recently-departed employees who offer the following insight:

    I was laid off from ESPN today after 9 and a half years. Completely out of the blue, no warning at all. I was told it was 10% across the board, which would be roughly 400. I was told the reason was they needed to make their profit margin and they chose to do that via layoff of staff… we were told that the layoffs ARE tied to the profit margin that ESPN needs to meet and the fact they haven’t met that number. Your comments about them buying all of these live rights and now needed to reduce overhead costs is dead on.

    As an example, here are two of the “live rights” deals being discussed in these emails to Deadspin:

    – ESPN spends $825 million over 11 years to gain exclusive rights to the US Open (tennis, not golf).

    – ESPN extended its partnership with SEC until 2034, which gives ESPN ownership of the upcoming SEC Network. While the terms of the contract were undisclosed, the two entities will split the SEC Network profits evenly.

    Are these two business acquisitions/partnerships the reason why these layoffs are happening in Bristol, Connecticut? It’s hard to come up with any other conclusion, although, Disney (ESPN’s parent company) has been laying off employees as well. Maybe ESPN is trying to keep with their owners.