#strategy

It feels like every solution is just let people go. There are so many smarter ways to boost profits without wrecking the team or morale. Leadership keeps doubling down on layoffs instead of thinking creatively, which just ends up proving their overall incompetence.

Even the market knows we have no clear strategy!

The stock won’t recover through layoffs. Maybe there’s a short-term bump, but long-term we’ve been in a downward spiral. You can’t fix anything with cuts alone, especially when they’re not strategic or tied to a real vision. This company won’t magically grow again. And after years of dumping on its most valuable resource, skilled and competent employees, you can’t expect to be an industry titan.

Microsoft has entered its fifth straight month of layoffs in 2025, with just over 40 roles cut at its Redmond headquarters this September, according to the Seattle Times. While smaller than earlier waves — including 6,000 job losses in May and 9,000 in July — the new cuts bring the total to more than 15,000 employees since the company announced an $80 billion AI investment. The latest layoffs affected engineering, product management, and legal positions, and raise questions about whether Microsoft is normalizing monthly job cuts to reshape its workforce around AI.

The company continues to defend the strategy as part of a broader transformation, pointing to declining reliance on certain roles while heavily hiring for AI, machine learning, cloud, and Copilot development. CEO Satya Nadella has described the tension between record profits and the pressure to reduce costs as the “enigma of success.” Microsoft has also rolled out a $4 billion “Elevate” program to reskill workers for the AI era, even as employees face uncertainty and fear of automation replacing traditional jobs.

These workforce changes are not unique to Microsoft — Amazon, Meta, and Google have taken similar steps — but the Redmond company’s consistent monthly layoffs highlight how aggressively it is prioritizing AI and automation over maintaining its existing headcount.

Full article: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/fifth-month-of-layoffs-at-microsoft-whats-driving-the-cuts

Laid off over 700 employees.
The layoffs are a part of a braoder stragey.

A merger between HP and Dell could create a global technology powerhouse with unmatched scale, operational efficiency, and market reach. By combining their strengths in personal computing, enterprise solutions, and supply chain management, the merged company could drive innovation, reduce costs through economies of scale, and better compete with major players like Apple and Lenovo. Additionally, aligning their R&D efforts and customer service infrastructures could enhance product offerings and improve customer experience across both consumer and enterprise markets. The current administration may allow such a merger if it demonstrates clear benefits to U.S. competitiveness in the global tech industry, promotes domestic job growth, and does not significantly reduce competition in key market segments. Given the strategic importance of maintaining leadership in technology, regulators could view the merger as a way to strengthen the nation’s position in a rapidly evolving global economy.

If only the revolving door of CEO's and senior executives of Dixie had little forethought and understanding of where the industry was going!

Look at the Oracle results and Ellison's strategy - they built DC's anticipating the AI demand. Here we sold all the DC's and ripped them off from our asset list.

They never had strategy other than paying themselves off, by selling what was left!

With rising competition from companies like Roche and others, is continuing to downsize R&D investment truly the right strategy? We need an entrepreneurial CEO—one who is bold and visionary—to clearly articulate our genuine growth plan to investors. Instead of focusing solely on margin calculations through cuts, we should invest more now to develop groundbreaking products and outpace our rivals. I believe Wall Street would prefer a company with strong growth potential over one with lackluster expansion but improved margins from relentless cost reductions. The current share price speaks volumes: investors are not buying into Illumina’s new strategy.

Anyone else find it interesting that LS made no mention of OFSE, CCUS, etc… All I heard was that we are positioning ourselves to not feel the pressure of the oil market…

AT&T Inc. (T)
UP 32.97%
5-YEARS

VZ
DOWN 27.40%
5-YEARS

AND THESE BOZOS WANT FYBR (FOOBAR)
5 BILLION PLUS LOST ON OATH (YAHOO)

NEW LEADERSHIP ASAP! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!

in 2019, which is 6 years ago, Ford introduced the new redesign models Explorer, Escape, F150, Mustang, and Transit. The only model that is still selling above 100,000 units per year is the F150. If you look at these vehicles after 6 years, they are all still look the same.

This is the main reason why Ford vehicles sales are down. Why would anyone want to buy a new vehicle that looks like the ones from 6 years ago.

Ford will ax the Escape and Transit, the Mustang is iconic so Ford will hold on to it even though Ford loses money making the Mustang.

@OP+1k4876rt2 Bumping this post forward...This post had it all right.

Just how bad is it for SAP? Well our stock price has plummeted 12 % in just the last month and shows no sign of a rebound. It is tracking straight down.

But go have a look at what Oracle is doing just today... Stock is on par to set a record - it is up since opening this morning 35%. All due to some very big scores on AI - and where is SAP while others are winning ?? Your guess is as good as mine. This kind of beat down would not have happened under previous leadership teams.

We are planning of dumping our Maintenance Biz, which was responsible for most of our stable revenue over the last several decades and no indication as to what platform will replace this significant revenue stream.

It's hard to watch.

As was stated in the referenced post, CK and DA had better get their act together real soon, or SAP will be lost for good against our competitors.

https://www.channelfutures.com/channel-sales-marketing/broadcom-hands-services-business-over-to-partners

1) Capital misallocation
non-primary business ventures, cost cutting, stock buybacks

2) Failed management
misguided programs, general incompetence, arrogance, strategic blunders, bureaucratic processes, focus on politics

I would say cost cutting in the wrong areas is the major one. The other failures are somewhat recoverable

I didn’t think it was possible but Go Go has made a good move. The purchase of Cenovus 50% stake in WRB should have been done a long time ago.
It just goes to show that even a broken clock is correct 2 times a day.

And some Med Advantage markets.

https://www.modernhealthcare.com/insurance/mh-elevance-health-medicare-advantage-plans-2026/#:~:text=Key%20Takeaways,offset%20their%20prescription%20drug%20costs.

What would turn this place around? New leadership? New strategy? Something else?

For anyone thinking the change to Sycamore is going to lead us to better things anytime you need to be ready. They’re preparing to walk the new CEO through the budget for this year but aren’t letting anyone with actual insights into the room. He’s going to be fed a load of BS that can’t be delivered and everyone will be left with the fallout.

Unless the new owners want to actually hear from the few of us that have ideas to reinvent this company, the beatings will continue.

Is the drag on this great company.

That surpassed even the most optimistic scenario, no thanks to super expensive public cloud hyper scalers who got greedy.

I think the government is more modern than Dell. The initiatives they drive to modernize are basic engineering practices that our management rejects, because our management teams at the SVP level and up have no idea about technologies or industry practices. The operational models they’ve put into place in ISG and CSG are steps backwards. They couldn’t possibly be more bureaucratic and foolish. Just huge power grabs made from people who have no idea what they’re doing and are so philosophical and unrealistic it’s embarrassing in practice.

Meanwhile you add the layoffs, cut throat attitude and poor strategy and you’ve got yourself one of the worst businesses of all time.

Dell is a company stuck in the 90s that has no strategy, poor management and terrible engineering practices. They don’t really want to modernize although they like the word.

It’s pathetic and sad.

Yes, lot's of companies are announcing layoffs

But can anyone really understand our org structure?
What the end goal or strategy is?

Why the obsession with hiring cast-offs from other OEM at all levels? Are they trying to informally gain access to benchmarking practices of other companies? External hires have done nothing but bring more confusion and problems. Company is being driven into the ground.

The AHM Q&A is heavily moderated filtering out awkward/inconvenient questions (checked myself). It is literally impossible to get a realistic picture of the business out that hype without admitting the existing issues. The ultimate fact is the share price is stagnant/dwindling for a number of years now but everytime there are excuses from the people who must take strategic decisions and are allegedly a talent that nobody wants loosing at the very expensive price. The question needs to be asked - "Are these people (CA and the gung) even cut to lead anything/anyone?" What do you think, folks.

A similar sized company with a Portland footprint just conducted layoffs and a reorg. It was completed in 1 day. Why does it take Nike 5 months to cut a few hundred jobs and role out a new org structure and strategy that’s been known at the VP level since the beginning of the year?

Speaking of d-mb acronyms: What does “fields of play” mean anyway?

Tennis and basketball are played on a court. Running happens on a trail or track. Even in soccer (football) the playing area is more commonly referred to as a ‘pitch.’

This is the kind of inane rebranding that resulted in losing our focus and did zero to stem the loss of market share.

I applaud the move back to aligning with Sport. We should NEVER have left the category offense.

Once this is over hopefully this will allow us to all row in the same direction. And hope that it’s not too late.

Just kidding.

Dell mgmt is lost. The leaders they have in place are the worst they have ever been. The BS charade of AI is finally being shown for what it is, which is nothing. The modern dev initiatives are falling apart. The stock is on a nose dive even though they had “record revenue”.

The employees are not happy, there is clearly a lack of strategy and the company is being driven into the ground.

MD only intention at this point is to su-k the company dry and sell pieces of it off.

Even as UPS continues to navigate a challenging economic environment, it continues to demonstrate strategic leadership. In its first-quarter earnings report, UPS announced a reduction in its workforce of 20,000 in addition to the closure of 73 buildings. In return, this will save the company $3.5 billion, allowing UPS to come out on top of a shifting economy and competitive industry.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/09/02/noakes-sell-the-u-s-postal-service-to-ups/

Was wondering how the small format stores are doing/are they successful? And if so, any future plans for them?

As Phil scuffles into the sunset, leaving the company as weak as it's ever been, welcome Sanoke.

Welcome to a company struggling with bad leadership, no strategy, and unfocused product decisions. Organizationally a mess and one reorg away from a buy-one, get-one reward at BCG. More turf wars than West Side Story with enough passive-aggressive energy to power any high school drama.

FactSet needs a reset; you can be that change agent. The rot reaches at least L3 as the blind lead the blind(er).

Please give us an idea of why you're here and what you're hoping to achieve. Give people some hope that something new will happen.

Is TSS IBM GLOBAL SERVICE or whatever they are called these days. What is the plan for that?

FF had promised to release a plan at the beginning of the year.
Now we’re in September, and still waiting…
Does anyone know when it will finally be delivered?

Time to get rid of the low hanging fruit.

Spoiler alert: the closer you are to the valve the safer you are.

Major oil companies are actively laying off workers in 2025, driven by a combination of falling oil prices (hovering around $63 per barrel, below the $65 threshold many consider necessary for profitable drilling), post-merger redundancies, cost-cutting initiatives to boost shareholder returns, and broader industry shifts toward efficiency through technology and offshoring. These layoffs are part of a larger trend where U.S. oil and gas production has reached record highs, but employment has declined by about 25% compared to a decade ago, as companies produce more with fewer workers via advanced drilling techniques, automation, and remote operations. This has led to job losses even in booming regions like the Permian Basin, affecting communities in states like Texas, California, and Pennsylvania.

It’s a no-brainer, really. I just hope cuts won’t be massive. Most of us need this job, no matter how little we like it or how underappreciated we feel.

https://www.chron.com/business/article/exxonmobil-baytown-plant-jobs-21019567.php

“ Houston oil giant to revamp Baytown site, bringing 700 jobs”

I love that we are trying to chase what Exxon has done 10+ years ago and now while CVX has decided to go full Darth Vader and throw the baby out with the bath water, they are strategically making moves that will make us (I.e. our yes-men, short sited management) look terrible. Guess we’ll add those jobs back in 10 years too when they’ve moved on to their next strategy. #thechevronway

Is this good for the company?

Nothing says ‘financial recovery plan’ quite like betting the company’s future on a boy-band side quest. At this rate, the only thing timeless about Fossil will be the bankruptcy papers.

In September there will a massive change in S&T - layoffs… Data Product Management teams and DPA will combine which will create layoffs… others will be affected… hold on to your butts..

Whiting in the news again last week. This refinery must make Bri’ish Petroleum a lot of money for them to put up with this.