restructure
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TikTok is cutting jobs around the world
It's reportedly going through a global restructuring.
Samsung merges mobile and consumer electronics divisions in major shakeup
Samsung has also replaced all of its CEOs.
BBC cuts 1,000 jobs to combat licence fee shortfall
For a long time, the BBC has operated knowing that licence fee funding may be taken away. With all eyes on how it spends public money, the broadcaster tightened its belt and committed to saving £1.5 billion by 2017. The problem with this, and cost-cutting exercises in general, is that they come at a cost to people working there. As part of a new round of restructuring, BBC Director General Tony Hall announced today that the Beeb will axe 1,000 employees in a bid to save an additional £50 million.
Toshiba's shift away from consumer PCs means 900 lost jobs
Toshiba has been slinging Satellites and Qosmios and Kirabooks for basically ages now, but its days a purveyor of consumer computers may be winding down in a market near you. According to a statement the company issued last night, it's shifting its focus a bit -- the big priority is now crafting PCs to woo business customers, and Toshiba's going to cut about 900 jobs as part of the transition. Don't fret too much, though: Toshiba might be looking to streamline its consumer computer operations, but it's not going to give up entirely. To hear them tell it, the new Toshiba will "withdraw from unprofitable markets" and continue bringing those consumer-friendly PCs to developed countries, though we're still not sure how its mix of gadgets will wax and wane 'round those parts. The move will be a somber one in some places (especially for anyone who'll soon be out of a job) but there's not much else to be done -- the global PC market may not be shrinking as fast as some thought it would, but the seas are still rough for companies trying to plot a course to PC profitability.
Lenovo to split into Lenovo Business Group and Think Business Group, effective in April
Lenovo's done pretty well since its acquisition of IBM's personal computer business in 2005, but in an internal e-mail earlier today, CEO Yang Yuanqing admitted that despite some attempt, the Lenovo brand is still only playing well in the mainstream and low-end markets; whereas the Think brand is his company's best asset in the high-end market, and that it is the only brand that can compete with Apple in the high-end market. For the sake of better brand positioning and better efficiency, Yang announced in the same e-mail that his company will split into two new groups: Lenovo Business Group (LBG) and Think Business Group (TBG). Effective from April 1st, LBG will be headed by Senior Vice President (Mobile Internet Digital Home) Liu Jun to focus on mainstream consumer and business desktops, laptops, and tablets, as well as smartphones and smart TVs. On the other side of the fence, TBG will be led by Senior Vice President (Product Group) Dr. Peter Hortensius to better establish the business-friendly Think brand in the consumer market, as well as continuing to stay ahead of the game in the global commercial business. Yang also pointed out that the recently created enterprise business team and workstation team will be part of TBG. It'll be a while before we see the fruit of Lenovo's restructure, but it'll sure be interesting to come back to this in a year's time. Alas, we're now further away from ever seeing a ThinkPhone.
Jolla's Marc Dillon takes over as CEO, Jussi Hurmola to focus on Sailfish
Following big news from Jolla almost two weeks ago, it's reluctant to go quiet, instead taking to Twitter to announce that Jussi Hurmola is no longer its CEO. This isn't a story of scandal or corporate dissent, but merely a restructuring to allow Hurmola to focus on Sailfish, the MeeGo-based OS currently in development. It's no great surprise that Marc Dillon is stepping up to be the new big cheese -- he's another of the company's founders and was acting COO prior to the shuffle. Sailfish is due to be demoed for the first time in a little over a month, where we imagine Hurmola will be eager to flaunt its progress now that he's managed to palm off all that paperwork.
Olympus scales back, shifts focus to turn around fortunes
Beleaguered camera maker Olympus vows to shed around 2,700 jobs and heavily restructure its business following a major accounting scandal. That works out that around seven percent of its total global workforce will be cut, with Olympus also aiming to sell unused property and close its Philippines plant over the next two years. The Japanese manufacture will also refocus on profitable imaging, medical and life-science departments -- presumably fields that would-be suitor Panasonic's also interested in. Update: Or perhaps not.
New Acer will be more like Apple, less like HP
The details behind the rift that saw Acer's CEO Gianfranco Lanci (pictured) suddenly resign yesterday are now starting to emerge. Simply put, Acer's board wants the Taiwanese company to be more like Apple and HTC, according to Bloomberg, raking in big profits on fat margins. Lanci's approach, however, was to aggressively increase volumes and use its scale to negotiate cheaper prices from suppliers in a race to steal market share from Dell and HP. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Acer's profit margin in the last fiscal year was just 2.3 percent compared to Apple's 21.5 percent. Daunting, to say the least. With Lanci gone, JT Wang, Acer's chairman and temporary CEO, plans to put more effort into expanding its smartphone and tablet business while broadening efforts around enterprise sales. For Wang, Lanci's departure marks a break with the past, saying, "Recently the iPad [tablet computer] and other new form factors have had a very big impact on the PC market. We have to change our business strategy." While PCs will still be core to the business, Wang said "we won't be in a hurry to change to become the world number one." Unfortunately for Acer, its brand is more closely associated with low-cost laptops than with the premium devices required to significantly expand its profit margins. We'd wish 'em luck but we think Acer will be better served by an innovative CEO and focused R&D.
AT&T's job cuts to be offset with hires in Mobility unit
As we mentioned earlier, AT&T has announced plans to cut 1.5 percent of its workforce of 309,000. Sad times ahead for the company? Not quite. Apparently the 4600 jobs will be harvested from managerial spots in its flagging wired home phone business, so no worries, wireless types. Now here's where it gets interesting: word has it that AT&T also expects to hire back that same number of employees into the fold -- the wireless fold, that is -- keeping the total headcount nice and steady. We'd wager that we'll see more cuts like this in the coming months and years, so if you were pondering that job as a switchboard operator, time to retrain. So yeah, turns out it's business as usual for the number one carrier after all -- unless you happen to be in the 4600-strong group of obsoleted folks, that is.[Via mocoNews]
Sony replaces top TV executive, attempts to boost profits
As of tomorrow, Takashi Fukuda will no longer have his job as Sony's top television executive, and no, it's certainly not an April Fool's joke of any kind. Reportedly, Hiroshi Yoshioka, the current head of the company's audio business, will be taking over and attempting to slash costs and boost profits. Sony's TV unit has been struggling of late to remain profitable in the incredibly competitive flat-panel market, and while its Trinitron CRTs once ruled the roost, tables have certainly turned since. Recently, Mr. Fukuda noted that Sony may have honed in too much on large, high-end sets while overlooking demand for budget-priced TVs, and quite frankly, we couldn't agree more with his assertion. [Warning: Read link requires subscription][Image courtesy of Tech-On]
