After 59 years of service, Mervyns Department Stores are closing up shop and selling just about everything all the way down to the shelving.
The company filed for bankruptcy about 5 months ago, but recently decided the business isn’t viable in the current environment. Mervyns operated 149 retail locations over 3 states.
Of course, anyone that had a Mervyns Card is expected to continue to make payments as usual until the balance is paid in full.
Polaroid, the iconic camera maker, has announced today it is filing for bankruptcy protection and all operations will remain normal. The company blamed the bankruptcy on an investigation of it’s parent company, Petters Group Worldwide, which has owned Polaroid since 2005. The investigation into Petters involved fraud around the founder and other employees, doesn’t involve Polaroid which is caught in an unfortunate circumstance.
Sovereign Bank (Banking) and Electronic Arts (Video Games) each announced they were cuttting 1,000 positions. EA, which is a video game maker, announced it will close nine offices as part of the layoff announcement. Both companies blamed the recession.
Not really news to anyone, but New Jersey now has it’s highest unemployment rate it’s seen in 12 years. Anyone want to take bets how high it’ll end up going? The overall percentage now sits at 6.1%.
Motorola, the long embattled electonics manufacturer has announce several cost cutting measures including freezing their pension plan and no longer matching their 401K contributions. Motorola has stated they will continue to fund pensions plans as required, but new employees will not be eligible, a policy going all the way back to January 2005.
The companies 2 co ceo’s will voluntarily take a 25% pay cut. As well as forgo most if not all of their 2008 bonus.
These new measures are in addition to the $800 million in reductions that were announced on Oct. 30, 2008.
Editors Note: Sure, first thing to go is the Penion and 401K while executives will continue to live the fat life. Why not reduce the pay of the top 10 or 15 managers and cutting perks that they could live without.
While most companies are (or close to) bleeding money, Fed Ex had higher profits than last year’s 3rd quarter, but announced cuts because of the economy. A competitor, DHL, has announced it will no longer service domestic shipping in the US, so Fed Ex stands to gain some market share.
Currently, Fed Ex has a hiring freeze in place, a reduction in labor hours and has announced staff cuts.
The increase in profit is said to be from lower fuel surcharges, but that is expected to change in the coming year.
Most car companies shut down production for two weeks beginning Christmas Eve, but this year is obviously going to be different. Chrysler is leading the way as they announce they will be shutting down production and employees will be told not to come back to work until Jan. 19th. While this may seem like a good thing for the company as a way to save money and allow demand to catch up with supply, this will affect many more than just Chrysler and it’s employees.
Suppliers will be affected as they will also have to slow or stop production, which will cut their income, but will mean layoffs for their employees as well. This will lead to a trickle down effect and will cause some crunches when it comes time to turn the machines back on.
Chrysler stated that there is a lack of credit because people want to buy in their dealerships, but can’t get the credit necessary to do so. This is in contrast as to what the competition is saying. Ford and GM state they have available credit, but demand is down sharply. The question is, what are the requirements for qualifying for credit?
Best Buy, the #1 consumer electronics retail chain is in cost cutting mode following a dismal 3rd quarter. 4,000 employees have been notified they are eligible for a “voluntary severance package”. If enough employees don’t accept the offer, Best Buy has stated it will start layoffs in order to reduce costs.
It is being reported that 43 states across the U.S. are in finacial trouble this year and it is expected to worsen for 2009’s budget. Where does your state fall on the list?
Bank of America announced plans to cut 35,000 jobs over the next three years. Blamed on they recent acquisition of Meryll Lynch, but also due to economic pressure, the cuts will affect all line of the business.
