Sony rumoured to be cutting its smartphone division in half by 2020

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It isn’t exactly a secret that Sony’s smartphone business isn’t doing so well. And it seems that’ll affect the structure of the company’s mobile division. Nikkei Asian Review reports that Sony is reportedly planning to cut half of its smartphone workforce by 2020. The layoffs could leave as many as 2,000 people without a job. However, it’s expected that Sony might transfer some of these workers to other divisions. This won’t be the first time Sony has done this. They laid off 2,000 employees back in 2009 after closing four facilities where smartphones were produced. It then took out 1,000 more jobs in 2015 due to underwhelming earnings.

Source: Engadget

Tesla fires hundreds of employees while Model 3 production experiences delays

Photo: Tesla Motors via european pressphoto agency

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been quoted before saying the company plans to make 5,000 units of its mass-market Model 3. But early stumbles and issues seem to be bogging the company down, putting into question whether this goal is feasible. On top of this, the automaker also seems to be cleaning its ranks as part of its annual performance review. Tesla dismissed several hundred of employees, including everyone from engineers, salespeople, managers, and down to factory employees. The company won’t give specifics about these dismissals beyond that. According to a statement from the company, “Like all companies, Tesla conducts an annual performance review during which a manager and employee discuss the results that were achieved, as well as how those results were achieved, during the performance period," explained a brand spokesperson. "This includes both constructive feedback and recognition of top performers with additional compensation and equity awards, as well as promotions in many cases. As with any company, especially one of over 33,000 employees, performance reviews also occasionally result in employee departures. Tesla is continuing to grow and hire new employees around the world.”

How this’ll affect production of its new vehicle remains to be seen. Tesla began production of the Model 3 in July and was able to build 260 of them in the third quarter. However, this is only 17 percent of the projected 1,500 units produced in the same time period. The company might be reevaluating its processes to see that they can meet the goal it set for itself.

Source: The Drive + USA Today

Microsoft confirms layoffs as part of reorganization plans

TechCrunch

After confirming that they were reorganizing their sales and marketing divisions, Microsoft has announced that it’ll layoff “thousands” of its workforce. It’s said that it’ll impact mostly sales jobs outside of Microsoft U.S. but the company isn’t specifying how many they would lay off. In a statement released to CNN Tech, Microsoft says they are "taking steps to notify some employees that their jobs are under consideration or that their positions will be eliminated. Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time-to-time, re-deployment in others."

Microsoft will reportedly lay off thousands of staff worldwide as part of major sales reorganization

Rumour has it Microsoft is getting ready to lay off thousands of its global workforce this week as the company is set to reorganize its sales division. According to a report from TechCrunch, Microsoft intends to merge its enterprise customer division with its small-and-medium-enterprise unit. The reorganization is said to be part of Microsoft’s plan to focus more on its growing Azure business, which is its cloud computing business. It isn’t clear though if these reported layoffs will be new job openings that focus on the cloud business.

Microsoft’s fiscal year ends on June 30^th so layoffs could be tied to this. Reorganization is also seen to be a result of last year’s change of leadership. Judson Althoff and Jean-Philippe Courtois now lead the company’s sales and marketing divisions after COO Kevin Turner left. And Althoff is known to be critical of previous approaches to sales and is looking to make Azure a key focus for the company. Microsoft hasn’t commented on the report yet.

Source: GeekWire