Estée Lauder is joining the Scrooge club and canceling their holiday party at posh sushi-joint Nobu 57. Instead, the company will be donating a small portion of that money to the Dress For Success charity. Here’s the message they’re circulating:

Dear Friends,

Many of you have been asking us about The Estée Lauder Companies Holiday press party this year. After much thought and consideration, we have decided that, at this moment in time, it is more appropriate to thank you and celebrate in another way. To express our gratitude for your support and to recognize our invaluable, deep relationships, The Estée Lauder Companies will be making a donation in your honor to Dress for Success. The mission of Dress for Success is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.

So, although we will be cancelling the party on December 1st at Nobu 57, you are very much in our hearts….

The Lauder Family and The Estée Lauder Companies

[The Daily Beast] Other Casualties of the Christmas Party Recession

A higher-up at investment firm BlackRock has just circulated this internal memo that reviews the company’s situation in the troubled economy. In the third paragraph, he concedes that layoffs are inevitable and says that concrete announcements will be made this week. Read on for the full memo:

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The curtain has closed on Jerry Yang’s tumultuous 18-month tenure as CEO of Yahoo. In this somber internal memo, Yang reflects on his reign and discusses how the search for a new CEO is underway. As usual, his shift key went unused.

To: all yahoos
From: Jerry
Subject: update

yahoos -

i wanted to address all of you on the news we’ve just announced. the board of directors and I have agreed to initiate a succession process for the ceo role of yahoo!. roy bostock, our chairman of the board, is leading the effort to identify and assess potential candidates for consideration by the full board. the board will be evaluating and considering both internal and external candidates and has retained heidrick and struggles to help in this effort.

i will be participating in the search for my successor, and i will continue as ceo until the board selects a new ceo. once a successor is named, i will return to my previous role as chief yahoo and continue to serve as a director on the board.

last june, i accepted the board’s request that i assume the ceo role to restructure and reposition the company as a whole in order to more effectively meet the fast-changing needs of both users and partners. since taking on the ceo role, i have had an ongoing dialogue with the board about succession timing. thanks in large measure to your tireless efforts, we have created a more open, competitive yahoo! and we believe the time is now right to transition to a new ceo who can take the company to the next level.

despite the external environment we face, the fact remains that yahoo! is now a significantly different company that is stronger in many ways than it was just 18 months ago. this only makes it all the more essential that we manage this opportunity to leverage the progress up to this point as effectively as possible. i strongly believe that having transformed our platform and better aligned costs and revenues, we have a unique window for the right ceo to take ownership over the next wave of mission-critical decisions facing the company.

all of you know that I have always, and will always bleed purple. i will always do what I think is right for this great company. while this step will be an adjustment for all of us, i know it’s the right one. i look forward to updating you on this process as soon as the board has developments to share, and will continue to do everything i can to make yahoo! fulfill its full potential.

thank you,
jerry

[Valleywag] Jerry Yang’s memo to Yahoo staff on his exit

After his town-hall meeting where 53,000 job cuts were announced, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit sent out this company-wide memo in which he brags about the accomplishments of the company. Read on for the full text of the memo, and learn how Citi will be “the long term winner in the industry…”
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So it’s Citigroup day here at Idiot Inc. We’ve covered their layoffs and memo from their chairman — why should we stop now? Below is the a full memo sent out at noon from CEO Vikram Pandit, in it he discusses the positive things happening at Citi… Uhhh right. Read on for the memo.
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Just a few minutes after posting the news about Citigroup’s new round of layoffs, we stumbled across this internal memo from the chairman, Dick Parsons. In it, he begs employees to “keep the faith.” Read on for the full memo:
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This one is fun. We’ve been given an internal memo from Morgan Stanley’s Gary Lynch (hero of the book Den of Thieves) where Mr. Lynch scolds Morgan employees for forwarding company memos to people outside the firm. Surely he’s not talking about little old us — we’ve only posted two memos of theirs.

I like how Gary capitalizes “Firm” — it really gives MS a God-like air of authority.

For Internal Use Only - Not for Redistribution

November 13, 2008

To: All Employees

From: Gary G. Lynch

As you all know, the Firm views open, honest and robust exchange of information as essential to our business. With this in mind, senior management provides information to all employees about significant developments at the Firm through internal memos and emails, and by holding Open Forums where John Mack and other members of senior management are available to answer your questions.

At the Open Forums, we have repeatedly asked that you treat this information as confidential and meant for our employees only, and the memos and emails from management are clearly marked for “internal use only.” Similarly, the Firm’s Code of Conduct prohibits disclosure to third parties of confidential “internal use only” communications.

Yet despite these clear directions, these communications are making their way outside the Firm. Based on a recent review of outgoing email, it was disappointing to see how often our employees ignore their obligation to keep internal Firm matters within the Firm. While we understand the impulse that led some of you to pass on these communications to your spouses or partners, a distressing number of employees have distributed this information to a far broader range of individuals.

Candid and full communication with employees is vital to our future success, but the quality of that communication depends on you. We therefore renew the request that you respect the policies on internal communications and make every effort to keep the information shared with you within the Firm.

Digg This!

UBS will be following Morgan Stanley’s lead by canceling their holiday party. The company tries to save face by donating some of the money to charity — perfect timing for a Q4 tax deduction. Read on for the full memo:
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It has just been over one week since layoffs were announced, but the management of Time Inc. has wasted no time in getting down to business. The following memo was sent to the staff of People magazine begging editorial employees for contract buyouts. It’s going to be a train-wreck to see just how much worse People is going to get. Read on for the memo.
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Shortly after Google pulled out of the proposed advertising deal, Yahoo president Susan Decker sent out this milquetoast email which I guess is supposed to improve morale or some shit. You be the judge:
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Viacom is clearly reeling from its plummeting profits, and is looking to cut costs in a big way at ratings-depressed MTV. This internal memo from head of MTV Networks Bob Bakish details cost cuts such as: a hiring freeze, cancelled holiday parties, and reduced travel expenses. This memo is definitely a precursor for layoffs… Read the full memo here.

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Morgan Stanley will be penny-pinching this holiday season by canceling all holiday parties except those paid for by employees themselves. The firm will supposedly be donating the money it would have spent to charities. Maybe they should start with the U.S. Treasury…

Here’s the memo:

“As you know, in terms of the global economy, it now appears that the environment will remain challenging for the foreseeable future. In times like these, as difficult as it may seem for people in our industry, it is the charities and nonprofits that depend explicitly on donations, many from the financial services sector, that will come under the most pressure in the coming months.

To help ease that pressure, we have asked all divisions to forego their Firm-sponsored holiday parties this year and instead help us apply those designated funds toward helping those most in need. Employees who are personally funding their own holiday events are still free to do so; this request is strictly with regard to Firm-sponsored employee events for the holidays.”

[DealBreaker] Morgan Stanley Cancels Christmas, Jobs

Manhattan employees of Google are going to feel cost-savings in the cafeteria. The cuts have been made on the west coast as well, but how much could this possibly save the company? Read on for the memo…
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Security Industries and Financial Markets Association (Sifma) employees have been put on notice that heads will roll on Wednesday. I’m sure today and tomorrow are going to be lots of fun in that office. Here’s the memo:

From: Ryan, Tim
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 12:38 PM
To: SIFMA - All Staff
Subject: Important Message From Tim Ryan

All,
As we are all aware, recent events have resulted in an extremely challenging market environment and have presented us with some difficult decisions. As such, we will be implementing a reduction in force. Notifications of this reduction will be presented on Wednesday, October 29. Please modify your schedule accordingly to be present in the office on that day.

We appreciate everyone’s continued cooperation and patience as we work through these difficult times.

Tim

Short and sweet, Tim.

[Dealbreaker] Layoffs Watch ‘08: Everybody Squirm

The rumors have been circulating for over a month now, but the axe has finally fallen in Sunnyvale. The final number to be axed is 1,400, but these poor souls won’t be told for a few weeks. Below is the email that CEO Jerry Yang sent out, the whimsical all-lowercase strikes me as a bit inappropriate for the occasion. Oh well:
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