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Goodyear Slashing 5,000 Jobs and Freezing Salaries
Tweet Share on Facebook February 18, 2009 CommentIn this recession, people aren't spending on tires either. Goodyear this reported a loss of $330 million, or $1.37 a share--$1.18 a share excluding one-time items. Analysts were expecting a loss of $1.03 a share.
That means Goodyear is cutting costs. The company says it is cutting 5,000 jobs (7 percent of its workforce, roughly) in addition to the 4,000 it cut in the second half of last year. Goodyear is also freezing salaries in its effort to slash expenses by another $700 million in 2009--boosting its total cost savings plan target to $2.5 billion.
From the earnings release:
“Given lower industry demand, we are taking aggressive action, reducing tire production, cutting costs and adjusting investments to better match market conditions,” said Robert J. Keegan, chairman and chief executive officer.
“The many positive actions we took and the results we achieved in 2008 provide a base from which we will address the market challenges we will inevitably face in 2009,” he said.
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Help Wanted: The Job You Didn't Want Before
Tweet Share on Facebook February 17, 2009 Comment (2)The recession means a lot of folks trading down, in a sense, as they take on work they would have previously scorned. The most extreme trading could happen with new grads and young workers, as they choose their careers in "the new reality." It could actually be good for the nation's leadership.
From a look at the consequences of the recession in Foreign Policy:
Your government will get smarter... In a global recession, governments around the globe will be able to recruit a better class of bureaucrats. Just a few years ago, the U.S. government had serious recruitment problems in the Foreign Service because no world-savvy 25-year-olds wanted to work for the civil service when they could make serious cash on Wall Street. In a severe downturn, however, the stability and security of a government job look far more appealing.
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Anna Wintour Gives Career Advice
Tweet Share on Facebook February 17, 2009 CommentAnna Wintour, the famous First Lady of fashion (well, editor of Vogue), has some career wisdom for young designers facing the gray days of recession: temper your egos, kids.
From her interview with the WSJ:
If many of the most successful emerging designers are still struggling, what do you tell all the fashion students who want to be just like them?
It's important for young women and men coming out of the fashion schools to think seriously before starting their own collections. Anyone who wants to be a designer and thinks they're going to be the next Calvin [Klein], Ralph [Lauren], or Michael [Kors] is not realistic. It is much more helpful for them to go and study with an Oscar [de la Renta] or a Carolina [Herrera] -- someone who can teach them.
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Caterpillar CEO Says More Layoffs Likely to Come
Tweet Share on Facebook February 13, 2009 Comment (4)The current brouhaha over Caterpillar is probably a pretty good cautionary tale for stimulus cheerleaders. The fact is that effects of the stimulus package won't be as immediate an improvement for businesses and workers as most would wish. Earlier this week, the President said the stimulus would allow Caterpillar to bring back some of its recently laid off workers.
But Caterpillar CEO JIm Owens says that's not exactly the case. In fact, Owen says, Caterpillar will probably need to layoff additional workers before any rehiring takes place.
From ABC News:
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Joaquin Phoenix: How Not to Do a Job Interview
Tweet Share on Facebook February 12, 2009 Comment (19)So, you've heard job interview tips like "Don't chew gum" and "Don't wear sunglasses." Or "Be articulate," and "Give answers that include more than one word."
But perhaps, for some reason, you don't quite understand why. On David Letterman last night, the great actor Joaquin Pheonix (hilariously and probably jokingly) shows you what it looks like.
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Citigroup's Vikram Pandit Gets "The New Reality"
Tweet Share on Facebook February 11, 2009 CommentNo more private jets. That, for Wall Street executives, is "The New Reality." It's not unlike "The New Frugality."
In his testimony before Congress today, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit had to do some fancy footwork about that (now canceled) post-TARP private jet that ignited the tempers of millions.
From the WSJ's live blog:
11:00: Pandit addresses the $42 million airplane. He says that Citi did not understand the new reality of TARP, and cancelled the plane delivery once he did. “I get the new reality,” Pandit says. “My goal is to return Citi to profitability as soon as possible and I have told our board of directors that my salary should be $1 a year with no bonus until we return to profitability.”
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Comparing Job Losses to Past Recessions
Tweet Share on Facebook February 11, 2009 CommentThe Internet has plenty of pickings if you're looking for a chart that compares the job losses of this recession (beginning in December 2007) with the losses of previous recessions.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's office put out this chart, comparing this recession to the previous two recessions. It's a startling image, but it's a slightly ridiculous comparison, given that no one is comparing this recession to the past two. The President himself calls this downturn "the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression."
Justin Fox at Time has this chart, comparing this recession with the previous five. It's much more helpful, given that our unemployment rate is still well below the 1982 peak of 10.8 percent.
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More Jobs Created in House Stimulus Bill, Say Economists
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2009 Comment (4)In an effort to be cut some massivneess from the massive stimulus bill, the more fiscally conservative Senate trimmed some programs--and some jobs, according to some economists. From Bloomberg:
While providing more generous tax breaks than the House version, the Senate agreement pared $40 billion targeted at helping state and city governments avoid layoffs, $19.5 billion for school construction, $7 billion for health care and about $1 billion for early education programs.
Excising or reducing funds to those programs significantly blunts the stimulative effects of the Senate package, economists say.
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GM Slashing 10,000 Jobs
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2009 Comment (1)Embattled GM is taking an axe to its global payroll--cutting 10,000 salaried jobs worldwide, including 3,400 stateside, the company said this morning. Most of the job cuts will be done by May 1.
GM must present its plan for longterm viability to the government Feb 17, the AP reports. Starting in May, the automaker is also cutting 2009 pay for domestic executives by 10 percent and for other many salaried employees by 3 to 7 percent.
Late last year, the company said it might need to cut its U.S. workforce (salaried and hourly) by as much as 31,500 by 2012.
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A-Rod Took Steroids: Felt Under Pressure to Perform
Tweet Share on Facebook February 9, 2009 Comment (10)A-Rod admitted in an interview with ESPN today that he took performance enhancing drugs while playing for the Texas Rangers in 2001-2003.
The baseball player was signed to a 10-year $252 million contract with the Rangers at the end of 2000. MLB.com reports that "at the time, it was the largest contract given to a professional athlete, and it sent shock waves through the baseball industry."
The weight of the massive contract and heightened expectations seems to have prompted A-Rod's use of a banned substance: "When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure, felt all the weight of the world on top of me to perform, and perform at a high level every day," Rodriguez told ESPN.
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