http://idiotinc.com Ruthless coverage of bad business news Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:18:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Irony: Congressman Gary Ackerman mocks the automotive CEOs for taking private jets to DC while begging for money. [Jalopnik] Spite: Wall Street hotshots won't be showing up for Andrew Cuomo's birthday bash. [NY Post] Flying Circus: Monty Python now has an official Youtube channel. [YouTube] http://idiotinc.com/idiot-links/idiot-links-november-19-2008/ 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 ... http://idiotinc.com/company-memos/estee-lauder-cancels-holiday-party/ Boeing is cutting 27% of its workers at a defense facility in Wichita, Kansas. The layoffs will begin this week and will last through the first half of 2009. Programs affected include: B-52/Refueling Systems Support, 767 International Tanker, Mission Planning, engineering support for Airborne Laser and 747-8, and ... http://idiotinc.com/layoffs/boeing-bombs-800-jobs-in-kansas/ When we saw that the chairman and CEO of Applied Biosystems, Tony Smith, had unloaded nearly $29 million worth of stock in three days, we knew something was up. It turns out that Mr. Smith and five other board members will no longer have a place at the ... http://idiotinc.com/stock-market/ceochairman-of-applied-biosystems-dumps-stock-before-merger/ MPC Computers (formerly MicronPC) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and has been delisted from the NYSE. The company struggled since buying Gateway's Professional Services Unit, which declined in sales as soon as MPC took over. After several tough quarterly losses, its suppliers began to get antsy and ... http://idiotinc.com/bankruptcies/mpc-files-for-bankruptcy/ TV game-changer TiVo will be laying off some of its 495 employees, but has not announced how many. The cuts come in response to what the company calls “a rapidly evolving retail consumer market.” TiVo has filed a document with the SEC that says cash-charges for severance pay ... http://idiotinc.com/layoffs/tivo-lays-off-secret-number-of-employees/ It was a bad day for shareholders of XTL Biopharmaceuticals. After its one-and-only drug that's close to market failed clinical trials against a placebo, the company's stock fell 95% in value to $0.13 per share. How fucked does Wall Street think they are? Their market cap is ... http://idiotinc.com/downfalls/xtl-bios-stock-crashes-after-it-fails-drug-test/ Semiconductor equipment manufacturer KLA-Tencor will be trimming its workforce by 15% in response to “current market conditions.” In a statement, KLA's CEO -- Rick Wallace -- had this to say: "We will continue to monitor the demand environment and make the necessary adjustments to weather this downturn, help optimize our ... http://idiotinc.com/layoffs/kla-tencor-says-900-employees-no-more/ Massachusetts regulators have charged Oppenheimer with unethical conduct over sales of auction-rate securities which they claim cost the state $56 million. Secretary of State William Galvin has said that Oppenheimer "underplayed" the investments' risks, and that Mass. investors were unable to get their money when the securities market froze ... http://idiotinc.com/busted/massachusetts-regulators-serve-oppenheimer-with-a-fraud-lawsuit/ We'll be liveblogging the Senate hearings on the bailout of the big three American automakers. We'll sift through the oft-dull C-Span coverage so you don't have to. Follow along after the jump. Refresh to see the latest updates at the bottom of the page 11:55 am: Testing, testing... 1-2 syllabus 12:00 ... http://idiotinc.com/look-at-me/liveblogging-the-senate-automaker-bailout-hearing/ 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: 17 November ... http://idiotinc.com/layoffs/blackrock-internal-memo-signals-layoffs/ Steve & Barry's, which filed for bankruptcy just a few months ago, will be liquidated by the private equity firm that acquired 175 of its remaining stores. The company's 5,000 employees will be let go and its inventory will be sold off. The fire-sale marks a sour end for the ... http://idiotinc.com/downfalls/steve-barrys-to-liquidate-and-lay-off-employees/ Ford will give up its controlling stake in Mazda by selling 20% of the Japanese automaker for $450 million. The company is in desperate need for cash after its October sales dropped by 30%. Two Ford members will get the boot from Mazda's board of directors, but the ... http://idiotinc.com/power-struggles/racing-for-cash-ford-sells-20-of-its-stake-in-mazda/ The Pepsi Bottling Group has slashed its 2008 earnings outlook and announced that 3,000 jobs would be cut worldwide. The company will be closing four facilities and axing 750 employees in the U.S. in addition to "streamlining its organization" in Europe and Mexico. All of this is going ... http://idiotinc.com/layoffs/pepsi-bottling-pops-the-cap-on-3000-workers/ 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 ... http://idiotinc.com/power-struggles/jerry-yang-resigns-as-yahoos-ceo-in-internal-memo/