Thread regarding Xerox Corp. layoffs

1/22/2019

Don't kid yourself... Iridesse is old technology as well and nothing I would describe as "awesome".

Ancient production print products like iGen won’t cut it. Impika has been failure. Irridesce is awesome but supplied by who? FujuXerox! Don’t expect them to give Xerox ant Irredesce product extensions. It all adds up to a second rate production product lineup. Office products are completely commoditized. Visentin thinks he can make a ‘powerhouse’ out of Docushare! Totally laughable and clueless.

Yes, it’s sad. It18 going down soon. I can’t imagine how Icahn makes money on his investment.

You need to wonder why Xerox brings in new legal counsel with experience in selling-off operating companies. Wake up people, the X is going down, and going to down hard.

Xerox (XRX) announced today the appointment of Louie Pastor as executive vice president and general counsel, reporting to Vice Chairman and CEO John Visentin and serving as a member of the company’s Executive Committee.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181003005588/en/

Pastor will oversee all of Xerox’s legal affairs, including legal aspects of the company’s various strategic initiatives, and lead the company’s corporate security and government-related and public policy activities on domestic and international affairs.

“Louie’s legal expertise and sharp insight will be instrumental in rebuilding Xerox into a technology powerhouse,” said John Visentin, vice chairman and CEO, Xerox.

Pastor joins Xerox from Icahn Enterprises, where he was deputy general counsel, responsible for, among other things, numerous long-term strategic initiatives, including the acquisitions and dispositions of various operating companies, and investments in and engagements with various public and private companies. Pastor was also responsible for overseeing the legal departments of the various operating subsidiaries of Icahn Enterprises.

I have been predicting the end in 2020 since 2005 :)

I believe the company will announce a sale, of the company, by the end of 2019Q2. Otherwise that will be Lil' Johny's pool date.

Carl Ichan does not hire or have the talent to create anything. He just is not that bright. He destroys companies. If you look at his track record over the years, he has left many companies in ruins. To think this is the one company he is going to turn around is ludicrous. Most people think about leaving a legacy, so do things that will last over time, this is not Carl Ichan. I think he know he does not have the brains or skills, so he goes for the easy money. He isn't always correct, but he tries. I believe he really messed up with Xerox. The Fuji deal might not have been good for all employees at Xerox, but I think it would have been good for Xerox.

The name Xerox will probably be around for many more years, but as company that it is today, I do not think it has very long.

Several months ago i would have said 1-5 years, now I would say 6-9 months. Things have been moving too fast and not in a good way. There's just not enough resources left. R&D is just a handful of folks scattered here and there, not even under a centralized management structure. It may still show 35,000+ people worldwide but when you dig down into the org chart there is barely 1000 folks left to develop products and probably most of those folks are in supporting roles or management rather than actual design folks who used to get the patents and the skilled designers who can actually transform those ideas into a CAD file. 2019 feels so up in the air in terms of what direction we are going in and what products we are going to be building and selling. There's no cloud charts. There's no dreams and hopes.

With each passing week more and more announcements of high level mangers either retiring or pursuing opportunities elsewhere only to be replaced by someone from Ichan's organization or one of J.V.'s buddies from the past. The reality is, Ichan is not known for returning companies to a place of power and glory. He goes in, gets whatever money he can get his hands on and then he pulls out. We are but only 1 of his side projects in his vast portfolio of conquests.

Great technical experts all around, but rudderless. Ursula was pretty terrible, but correct on one important point everyone hated: The culture needed to change. Management afraid to pick winners and losers, resources split and spread to thin to deliver the expected or desired quality. Everyone’s afraid to say no and hurt feelings.

Worked on several very promising areas that got cancelled because they wouldn’t make money in under a year. Fine, but then cut them totally and redirect resources to what are supposed to be the cash cows or new breakthroughs. Don’t allow awkward “cancelled, but let’s just finish this up...” type of work.

Processes haven’t adapted well with the years. So many areas limping along on systems and processes from 20 years ago and current management unwilling to take on technical debt to adapt. Relatable position, but myopic.

In the end, good work life balance and great people who are effective in their roles, but too spread too thin without consequence. If there aren’t more dollars and manpower coming (and there aren’t) then pick clear, specific areas to win at. Don’t be mediocre at a dozen. Too many people carving empires?

I think that laying off R&D personnel and ending programs does not indicate a commitment to funding R&D.

I believe this new leadership will bring Xerox back. I’m not sure if it will be in print or other areas. We have some awesome research and development team members who have been underfunded for almos a decade. This leadership needs to re-shape the company to allow more funding for R&D. They seem to have an appetite for this when past leadship did not.

I believe in the next three months we wlll find out more . In Webster

Becoming leaders in print again with innovative products & technologies requires, among other things, clear strategic direction, focused investment, and the right mix and depth of workforce skills. From my seat here (still in Xerox, in product engineering), the company currently falls short in all of these areas. Something dramatic would have to happen for us to be able to retake that hill. Maybe the picture will become clearer over the next 6 months, but my expectations at this point are pretty low.

I believe that Xerox will pull out of this dark time and thrive in the near future. We will become the leaders in printing again and bring new and innovative products to the marketplace.

March 2019 - might seem fast but I am gauging that on the speed of other changes lately. Might be wrong.