layoffs
Latest
Faraday Future confirms layoffs and wage cuts as struggles continue
The future of Faraday Future is starting to look bleak. The electric car startup has laid off part of its workforce and is slashed the wages of its employees by 20 percent, as first reported by The Verge and confirmed in a statement from a company spokesperson. The move comes as the company is in the middle of a standoff with the company's primary investor.
Essential lays off 30 percent of its workforce
Essential Products, the company behind the Essential Phone, has laid off around a third of its employees. The hardware and sales departments were reportedly hit hardest by the cuts.
Telltale reportedly lays off more of its staff (updated)
Last month, Telltale Games laid off the vast majority of its staff in what it called a "majority studio closure." But a group of 25 employees were to stay on in order to "fulfill obligations" to the company's board and partners. However, those employees now appear to have been let go too. As USgamer reports, narrative designer Rachel Noel tweeted today that she and the rest of the skeleton crew had just been laid off as well.
Disney shuts down kid-friendly Club Penguin Island to cut costs
Last year, Disney's kid-friendly online game Club Penguin shut down and the company relaunched it as a mobile app called Club Penguin Island. But now, Kotaku reports, Club Penguin Island is going away as well. Employees at the Kelowna, British Columbia studio behind the game received a notice this week that Club Penguin Island was being shut down and that they were being let go. "For several years now, we have been experiencing increasing global competition," Disney said in a letter to staff. "We have explored many options to improve efficiency and reduce costs. These measures have succeeded to some extent. However, in order to reduce costs further and become more competitive, we find that we must reduce our workforce."
Telltale Games: More 'The Walking Dead' episodes on the way?
On Friday Telltale Games abruptly shut down, laying off most of its employees without warning. The studio was in the midst of wrapping up the Final Season of its The Walking Dead series, and tomorrow will release the second of four scheduled episodes. Fans who may have already purchased a season pass for all of the episodes have no word if they'll ever see the light of day. Earlier today, in a statement to Polygon, Netflix confirmed rumors that Telltale is still finishing Minecraft: Story Mode, which accounts for the remaining employees. Tonight, the game company's Twitter account posted that things might not be over for The Walking Dead, and said that "Multiple potential partners have stepped forward to express interest in helping to see The Final Season through to completion. While we can't make any promises today, we are actively working towards a solution that will allow episodes 3 and 4 to be completed and released in some form. In the meantime, episode 2 will be released tomorrow across all platforms as planned." The series has been popular over the years, and it seems sensible that there would be interest in finishing it properly. However, given the company's recent issues and then out of the blue shutdown, it's hard to trust that we'll see more of these games ever without more concrete information. Only time will tell if this interest turns into anything, which is a tough spot to be in for gamers who've already paid for the content, not to mention former workers suddenly twisting in the wind without severance or benefits -- would any revenue from future episodes end up in their pockets to make up for missing severance or benefits? According to one former employee, there were people who had started there just in the last week, including one who had moved across the country for a job.
'Walking Dead' studio Telltale lays off most of its staff (updated)
Telltale Games, the studio behind titles such as The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, has laid off most of its staff in what it's calling a "majority studio closure." The publisher told Engadget in a statement that "a majority of the company's employees were dismissed earlier this morning, with a small group of 25 employees staying on to fulfill the company's obligations to its board and partners."
Uber lays off roughly 100 workers in its self-driving team
Uber is scaling back its self-driving team in the wake of the fatal Arizona crash and the subsequent shutdown of its autonomous operations. The ridesharing company has confirmed to Pittsburgh's Action 4 News that it laid off about 100 employees in its self-driving vehicle team. It didn't specify their roles, but noted that most were in its Pittsburgh team while others were in Uber's home territory of San Francisco. Quartz sources reported that these were vehicle operators.
HTC's June sales highlight the need for its recent layoffs
HTC can't catch a break. The company has announced that in June its sales fell "nearly 68 percent," according to Reuters. Earlier this week, the company revealed it would cull some 1,500 employees from its Taiwan manufacturing division in its chase for profitability. The last several years haven't been kind to the company, rife with reorganizations (including one earlier this year), key staff members resigning and desperate efforts to put money in the bank by seemingly any means possible -- including selling its Pixel team to Google for $1.1 billion. Recently, the company combined its virtual reality and mobile divisions in an effort to refocus. Given this week's news, and the Pixel sale as evidence, it wouldn't be surprising if, in a last-ditch effort to return to profitability, HTC sold its Vive team to Valve. The two worked closely on the device, and it's not like Valve's coffers will run dry anytime soon. Where would that leave HTC though, like BlackBerry? Vive is the company's last stand, from the looks of it, and selling it off sounds like a Hail Mary. More than that, pulling a BlackBerry only works if the handsets HTC produces capture the market, something that hasn't happened in years. And unlike BlackBerry's keyboards, HTC doesn't have one defining feature, let alone two (a reputation for enterprise-grade security). The new reduction in headcount probably won't have the same financial benefits of the Pixel sale, but we'll have to wait for HTC's next earnings report to know for sure.
HTC will lay off 1,500 employees in search of profit
HTC has announced that it will lay off another 1,500 employees from its Taiwanese manufacturing division in a bid to restore its profitability. In a statement, the company says that it will reorganize itself (again) to better take advantage of efficiency savings as well as help cushion its non-existent bottom line. Officials have, however, pledged to work with the Bureau of Labor and help all of those affected.
Tesla closes solar installation centers as part of layoffs
Tesla's recently announced layoffs may hurt its solar panel business particularly hard. Reuters sources and leaked documents have revealed that Tesla is closing roughly a dozen solar installation centers in nine states as part of the job cuts. There will still be about 60 facilities left afterward, but this would also end a Home Depot partnership that was reportedly responsible for half of Tesla's sales in the category.
Tesla lays off nine percent of its workforce
Tesla hasn't produced nearly as many of its vaunted Model 3 affordable EVs as it expected, which has led to a quarter of those who preordered the vehicle to demand refunds. As early as this year's first-quarter earnings call, Elon Musk told employees that a reorganization was coming -- and it came today. Musk published an internal email on Twitter revealing that the automaker is cutting around nine percent of jobs across the company.
Intel faces age discrimination allegations following layoffs
Intel's push for greater diversity hasn't helped it avoid trouble. The Wall Street Journal has learned that the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating claims that Intel's large-scale layoffs discriminated against older employees. In a May 2016 round that cut 2,300 workers, for instance, the median age of those let go was 49 -- seven years older than those who remained. The EEOC hasn't decided whether or not it will file a class-action lawsuit against Intel, but the affected people will be free to pursue civil lawsuits if the regulator doesn't find enough evidence to pursue its own case.
Twitch layoffs affect around two dozen employees
Despite the continued rollout of new features and highlights like a recent record-breaking stream of Fortnite, Polygon reports that Amazon-owned Twitch laid off around 25 employees today. In a statement, the company said it "conducted team adjustments in some departments" but still has plans to increase headcount by 30 percent this year. Some of the people leaving include well-known names in the Twitch community like VP of community Justin Wong and director of content marketing Ben "Fishstix" Goldhaber.
Despite layoffs, Motorola says Moto Z line is alive and well
There were rumors this week of a 50 percent reduction in Motorola's Chicago workforce and that the Moto Z line was finished. Given that we're still hearing about upcoming products for Moto Z phones like a VR headset Moto Mod, the news is confusing at the least. We reached out to parent company Lenovo, and a spokesperson confirmed that while there have been some layoffs, both rumors are incorrect.
Snap lays off over 100 employees from its engineering team
For the second time this year, Snap is laying off employees. The company confirmed to Recode and Engadget that it plans to let go of over 120 engineers in the next few days, which is about 4 percent of its around 3,000-person workforce.
HTC confirms layoffs as it combines VR and smartphone divisions
It's been an interesting few months for HTC. Google bought the team responsible for Pixel phones last year for $1.1 billion. The president of HTC's smartphone operations just resigned, claiming a "personal career plan" for the move. Now, the remaining US workforce is facing layoffs. As first reported by Digital Trends this week, HTC has confirmed that it will combine its smartphone and VR divisions, resulting in employee reductions.
GoPro plans to cut 300 jobs as Karma drone division struggles
GoPro is laying off about 200 to 300 employees, largely from its Karma drone division, TechCrunch has reported. The company has informed the employees, who will remain on payroll for another six weeks, and will make a public announcement sometime soon. GoPro had already laid off around 270 people in early 2015, in part because of increasing competition in the action camera industry, and in part because of the disastrous launch of its Karma drone.
Mesh WiFi startup Eero lays off a fifth of its workforce
Mesh WiFi pioneer Eero has laid off 30 employees in a bid to "focus on its core business". The company, which launched in 2015, has played a pivotal role in changing the face of home WiFi with products that blanket spaces in coverage, designed to replace old-school systems of routers and extenders.
Kodak cuts 425 jobs as film revival treads water
Kodak has lost $46 million this quarter and will lay off 425 employees, indicating that its film resurgence is still a work in progress. The company chalked up $46 million in losses (compared to a $12 million profit in the same quarter last year), to a slowdown in the printer market and rising cost of aluminum used in its products. The company's Consumer and Film division, which manufactures movie film for its upcoming Super 8 camera and the motion picture industry, also lost money.
Despite recent struggles, SoundCloud says it's 'here to stay'
After last week's reports that SoundCloud would layoff 40 percent of its staff and consolidate its offices, the company is spreading the word that it's here to stay. SoundCloud tweeted earlier this week that it wouldn't be going anywhere, a message it reiterated in a blog post, and Chance the Rapper tweeted a similar sentiment following a cryptic tweet about "working on the SoundCloud thing." According to a company spokesperson, Chance, as a member of the SoundCloud community, called the CEO to inquire about the situation and his takeaway from that conversation was reflected in his tweet. However, the company recently held an all-hands meeting and reports from employees in attendance as well as information about how SoundCloud has handled these layoffs tell a different story.
