Qantas to slash 1,750 jobs

by Marketing ON 14 April 2009

Australian airline carrier Qantas has announced plans to cut 1,750 jobs from various sections of its operations.

This decision couples with the airlines plans to defer delivery of superjumbo A380s and other aircraft in a desperate attempt to steer its way through the worst aviation downturn in years.

Qantas will cut up to 1,250 staff and 500 management positions from its 34,000 workforce, three weeks after it cut 90 management roles and laid off 1,500 workers in 2008.

The airline has revised its pre-tax profit guidance downward from about $500 million to between $100 million and $200 million for the full year. Qantas will also slash the capacity on its international and domestic routes by a further 5%.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, indicates the airline’s international services and freight operations were bearing the brunt of the global economic crises.

“Market conditions have deteriorated, especially in our international business. We are experiencing significantly lower demand, particularly in premium classes, and considerable price pressures with extensive sales and discounting by all carriers,” explains Joyce.

1,600 jobs shed by Nielsen

by Marketing ON 31 March 2009

Global market research giant Nielsen has announced staff cuts of 1,600 in 2009, or less than 5% of its workforce, disclosed by company officials in a conference call with investors and analysts.

A report from AdAge.com suggests chief financial officer, Brian West, declined on the call to detail the timing or precise areas of the reductions, which are in addition to the 4,100 announced shortly after the company was taken private in 2006.

West asserts that the moves are part of the continuing integration of Nielsen’s operations and efforts to grow earnings ahead of revenue.

“Were very focused on integration productivity. Weve shown an ability to deliver it, and as we head into 09 we need it now more than ever,” explains West.

A Nielsen spokesman has indicated that the majority of notifications regarding the new round of job cuts have already been made and that the cuts are being made globally.

Nielsen operates Nielsen Media Research, the Nielsen retail-tracking and consumer-panel business, Nielsen Online and Nielsen Business Media.

Google slashes marketing jobs

by Marketing ON 30 March 2009

Search giant Google will shed 200 jobs in sales and marketing, half of which are based in US – the biggest round of layoffs in the company’s history.

According to a report from AdAge.com, the move is the latest in a string of staff cuts since the beginning of the year as the company retrenches in the face of an ad recession that is affecting its core search-advertising business.

Google laid off 100 recruiters in January, and cut another 40 staffers last month with the closing of its less than successful radio-ad-sales initiative. The company has doubled staff in the past two years, growing from 10,674 at the end of 2006 to 22,222 at the end 2008.

“When companies grow that quickly, it’s almost impossible to get everything right and we certainly didn’t,” Google’s senior vice president of sales and business development, Omid Kordestani, explains in a blog post.

Google said the affected employees would be offered the opportunity to find other jobs at the company or to receive outplacement support and a severance package.

The cutting of the jobs globally comes on the heels of the departure of former Google US president, Tim Armstrong, who has since been named CEO of Time Warner’s AOL. His replacement is Dennis Woodside, Google’s vice president of operations for the UK, Ireland and Benelux.