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LeEco Said To Lay Off Over 80 Percent of US Workforce (cnbc.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: LeEco, a Chinese company that made a big splash in the U.S. last fall, is preparing for a round of layoffs that may happen as soon as Tuesday, according to sources. Two people told CNBC the company is planning massive layoffs in the U.S., with one source saying that only 60 employees will be left after the cut. The company's current headcount in the U.S. is over 500, according to this person. CNBC obtained an email calling employees together for a Town Hall Meeting that will occur in three of the company's U.S. locations, including San Diego, Santa Monica and San Jose, at 10 a.m. PST. The email asks employees to attend unless they're off for the day, in which case they're asked to call in. It's not clear what will be announced at the meeting, but a second source told CNBC that layoffs will be announced tomorrow. Under the restructuring, LeEco will refocus on encouraging Chinese-American consumers to watch LeEco's Chinese content library, one person said.
LeEco started out in China as a streaming media provider — it has been referred to as the "Netflix of China" — and looked to expand into the US by selling affordable hardware that linked consumers to media content from LeEco's partners. Its first batch of products included two smartphones and several TVs, all of which offered flagship-level specs at affordable prices. The idea, it seemed, was that LeEco would make its money back when consumers tuned in to partner programming.
There is a difference in the terms:
Fired = let go for cause.
Laid off = let go due to company downsizing or similar, not due to employee fault.
Sometimes there's a reason people use different words, and it's usually because they have different meanings.
Also a difference in Unemployment Insurance claims. You get fired you get no unemployment (rationale being it was something you did that caused you to get fired.) If you get laid off (indicating it was an outside force that caused you to lose your job) you get unemployment insurance payments.