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Mega-ISP Update: Layoffs At AOL, Voices At MSN
rfc1394 writes: "There are two articles, the first article, in today's Washington Post, mentioned that AOL, having successfully digested Time Warner, is producing results of that digestion by additionally extruding almost 1,000 people in layoffs due to an anemic advertising market and a need to meet projected revenue goals of about $40 billion.
A separate Post article mentions how Microsoft's online service MSN is having a woman named Shelley Reynolds create a series of spoken identifiers for its online service similar to AOL's famous 'You've got mail!' and identifies El Edwards as the man who is the voice behind the phrase. The second article also tells about the effect of sound on people with respect to technology, and the payments involved (Edwards reportedly got about $100; Reynolds will receive something under six figures.)"
If a company did not lay people off after a large acquisition, it would be an atypical situation. Most acquisitions are mainly driven by the need/want of the services that the acquired company provides, redundant personnel are given their walking papers, and the combined company is seen by stockholders to be operating more efficiently. These layoffs shouldn't be a surprise at all, it's the way the business world works.
http://www.codewolf.com - Just good stuff to waste time
Right this very minute, I am having this etched into aluminum and coated with high-polymer plastic, 1,000 times over, and buried in 1,000 time capsules across the world. A few copies are being jetisoned into space. I'm also jetisoning all over your mom's face, but that is a different matter alltogether.
Here is my ass
Which you may kiss.
Take time and aim well
You don't want to miss.
For if you aim low
And your lips they do fall
Then you will find
You'll be sucking my balls.
If you aim high
Despite your true heart
Sucks to be you
Now you're eating my fart.
Slashdot, come for the goatse, stay for the trolls.
Well, I believe you're wrong. Admittedly, future plans can't be valued $1=$1 with current earnings, but initial investors in, say, Amazon, accepted losses with good humor, expecting that the first to market advantage would eventually lead to a preferred market position.
After three years, and no real signs of profitability, I'd suggest that many people viewed it as a failure of execution, and pulled out on that basis. The dotbombs, for the most part, had nothing BUT long term plans, and couldn't make their short-term goals work out. Hence, they got punished. Hard.
One analysis is that the quarterly earnings aren't pulled out of the sky, but are, in fact, negotiated with the analysts over time. You can reposition those numbers as you need to (earnings warnings, etc.), and so long as a company isn't delivering any surprises, they should be OK. The problem lies when the market is surprised by a number, it tends to overreact.
ceci n'est pas un sig.