#costcutting

I liked JC, he obviously got replaced for someone cheaper.

Was there some other story there?

Investors had grown frustrated with Mark Barrenechea's ego-driven acquisitions that bloated OpenText, diluted focus, and buried the company in debt. His exit was overdue, and the board's failure to act sooner led to a loss of investor confidence. With new directors stepping in, the reset has finally begun.

Since the leadership change, the stock has rebounded roughly 13% and investor sentiment has shifted from scepticism to cautious optimism. The message is clear — the market believes a turnaround is possible.

The next CEO will have a mandate to streamline the portfolio, divest non-strategic businesses, and rebuild discipline. Expect a leaner structure, renewed focus on innovation and profitability, and tighter execution. AI-driven efficiency will help reduce costs, while those unwilling to adapt — or who feel entitled to a job rather than earning it — will be replaced.

OpenText's best days could still be ahead — smaller, sharper, and stronger than before.

Change of plan. Ford is pulling out of trying to make the F150 EV that they can't sell. Wall Street liked the announcement and Ford stock is up today. This is good for Ford.

Layoffs will start soon. Great cost reduction plan. Ford already lost $1.4 billions in Q3 for Model E.

Does anyone know?

In some orgs, not enough people took the "career transitions" package. Despite record margins and a good business environment, discussions are under way about how to (1) pay for the promotions needed to have a viable career ladder for individual contributors (2) bring in new engineers to the industry without growing the budget (3) bring WDs opex closer to Seagate's (4) pay for depreciation on capital expenditures which are needed

Where does that come from? You can just imagine.

Is that something that could happen? My mind keeps coming up with all the worst possible scenarios, and that is the one I cannot stop thinking about right now. It actually makes a bit of sense if the goal is to cut costs, since cutting payouts for those leaving would fit that goal. Please, someone tell me this has never happened.

Share price continues to decline after earnings and sales misses. Fiber deployment might be necessary for survival but its not a growth strategy. Fiber is mostly business related - with the economy slowing expect less growth or decline in fiber related revenues. Mobility sales might be a bit better with consumer segment holding up better.

There is no growth driver other than HC reduction in the near term so expect no significant increase in share price even after this sell off. The 16% share price decline since 9-15, which accounts for about four years of dividends, will not be reversed in the near future which is reflected in analyst downgrades. Given the very large decline in share prie prior to the earnings annoucement it is likely the word got out to selected individuals inside and outside the company. The share buyback program has also been a bust having little impact on the share price decline.

What does the future hold? - flat revenues, flat earnings per share, no recovery in share price, no increase in the dividend, a very slow reduction in long term debt (maybe), and a significant reduction in HC.

To be sure AT&T is a slow growth dividend stock that because of technology needs fewer employees over time but just think how much better it would be without $200 billion in long term debt, more spectrum, and better outside management. When Stephenson became CEO the share price was $39.47. When he left it was under $30. Now its under $25. Unfortunately, there is no hope of a change in top management and the BOD. No hope.

With continuing structural cost savings, what is the predicted future of our Spring Campus?

Continuous engineering cuts (yeah opex cuts) . But don't worry, the 'CPO office overhead is still comfortably expanding

Constant reduction in talent, structural cost reductions, feedback like we are going to squeeze until something breaks. How can we maximize shareholder value for the long term when we are just focused on the drive to the bottom.

stock jumps 10 pts!. every business unit did extremely well. top brass made lot of money on sold stock options past couple months and probually end of yr future bonus. Pretty sure management will still scream war on cost mantra even though the cat is out of the bag that company earnings doing well and projected earnings as well next year.

Let’s continue to pay for extra directors, extra seniors to work from home.

Then let’s talk about layoffs for the people who actually run the company.

The Comcast bloodbath has begun; knowledgeable and tenured employees are being slashed with no plan to capture or transition their knowledge. Many jobs are being cut, then re-posted with lower salaries and greater demands, or being moved to offshore sites. Severance packages are demonstrably stingier than in the past. Thanks to the "Big Beautiful Bill", Comcast has a windfall in tax breaks. Kudos to all the fools who still believe in "trickle down" economics. I wonder who Comcast. Amazon, Meta, etc. will sell to when the American working class is eliminated entirely?

Reposting for visibility. The original question was why address design structure in the wake of a 2 billion dollar loss on ev side of the business.

@ff I would say both. Studio for reasons mentions by a few people here. It's honestly an antiquated group within the company. Very old school way of thinking there. As the company evolves around them they are stuck in a bubble of arrogance. Way too top heavy on the salary structure, just look at the amount of level 7/8s there vs how many people actually do the work. Others areas at wtc might have one L8 covering hundreds of workers. Over there it feels the opposite.

As far as design when it pertains to production parts and process's I would say there is some bloat on that end as well. You start talking about DREs that "own" one or two widget parts on the car or maybe a couple models. They didn't design the part, there might not be changes to the parts, there might have been no issues since the part was designed but for some reason we need to have a whole group support it. That goes for almost every system and part put on the car. Leadership is scrambling trying to right the ship but they are cutting the wrong items out of our proven process's. Ask yourself why we still have multi thousand car floats that need repair at ALL of our plants... I'll answer for you... We didn't actually test anything like we used too because some out of touch boomer thinks AI and virtual reality will solve the companies problems. While we are at it why is so much money being dumped into battery development at this Wallace lab and the shuttering of mock up. The public has spoken, not many people want evs, especially without the tax credit. maybe Steve Jenkins can answer at the next Cole podium fireside lunch and learn brought to you by Starbucks

What’s the point of having all of them? If we really need to reduce costs, why aren’t we cutting some of those positions instead of the people actually doing the work?

I'm in New York this week and a friend of mine works at Goldman and said in their model they "departner" people every few years. That way you don't have someone with a nothing job making millions of dollars. If Jones is serious they will look at that. It would have prevented all the "retirements". Too many people without real jobs adding nothing who are millionaires off the backs of everyone else.

Has anyone heard any rumors related to 2025 bonus pool? There are a ton of meetings related to reductions of budgets, almost like a last minute scramble to cut costs. Maybe we should have subleased Frisco and ramped up remote work?

#1 - No severance if you’re fired for cause
# 2 - save money on payroll
# 3 - give them COBRA, but they will pay unsubsidized premiums for health insurance

I am thinking that all functions will be outsourced except those that are required to keep the network running and some bean counters. Eliminate overhead by eliminating headcount, make all stores reseller locations, no inventory carrying costs (already in progress), shut down real estate, outsource wireline techs, eliminate internals sales and offer a commission based structure to external companies selling on our network. Oh, and free up billions by not being involved in Formula 1, which is only around because Lowell liked race cars and execs like the VIP treatment at races around the world.

This is not going to be a regular rearrangement of deck chairs, something big is coming and I imagine it is not specific to VZ. Other Telco's will need to do the same thing as the wireless bo-m is over and our industry is now nothing more than people jumping from provider to provider to get free phones when their contract is up.

I have noticed that paying for the balance of remaining days off is something that they do not like
If you remember there was a strange shutdown in the middle of the year that they forced on us before doing that monster LR like an year ago.

It is highly probable that they will again do it in Jan/Fen and not in Nov.
Any thoughts ?

Want to save money? Get rid of the waste of time operation’s manager. He’s been working there for 35 plus years and a large salary. Xerox you are paying a director for doing absolutely nothing!
( except to make sure the North facility is being taken care of “)

The company appears to be cutting costs by encouraging resignations or creating performance-based grounds for termination, such as enforcing a four-day office attendance policy. Profitability challenges, particularly in the Optum business due to CMS V28 changes, are straining finances. Heavy investments in AI are unlikely to yield short-term returns, if any. Meanwhile, executive perks—luxury travel, corporate jets, security, double-digit raises, and millions in stock options—remain untouched. Instead, the company is pressuring its most vulnerable employees. This is a textbook case of mismanagement driving a company into the ground. Leadership is dominated by yes-men and yes-women, with dissenting voices pushed out. If you have alternatives, consider leaving this toxic environment. If not, make the best of your situation and be grateful to still have a job.

Well said, @2rc+1k6jmpfts.

How’s the increased dependence on offshoring technical and administrative positions working out for bp? Please share positive and negative impacts to corporate efficiency and profits.

FIS LOST A WHOLE DEPARTMENT BECAUSE OF HOW BADLY CS WAS LED. The client wants to do it themselves again. THIS IS CRAZY! The investors can feel the cost cutting as well when interacting with this company, the cs line must be awesome xD

ExxonMobil is trying to reduce OpEx by reducing number of engineers in North America (USA and Canada) and offshoring the jobs to cheaper countries like India.

But is it really working? I see BTC folks come here, work for some time in North America, and then go back to India and quit. They go to a competing company at a higher salary. All the time spent training them in North America is wasted.

How does that make sense from cost reduction perspective? And how will all the technical knowledge be retained??

….reposting a thread that was deleted for no reason…..

Shell is trying to reduce OpEx by reducing number of engineers in North America (USA and Canada) and offshoring the jobs to cheaper countries like India.

But is it really working? I see TAO folks come here, work for some time in North America, and then go back to India and quit. They go to a competing company at a higher salary.

How does that make sense from cost reduction perspective? And how will all the technical knowledge be retained??

Your attention, please! Very important. Tremendous discipline ahead.

Prepared for: Compensation & HR Committee
Date: October 2025
Subject: Proposal to Adjust Executive Benefits to Support 2026 Cost-Discipline Goals

Executive Summary

As the company advances toward its 2026 cost-reduction and efficiency targets, aligning executive compensation practices with these objectives will reinforce fiscal discipline, improve shareholder perception, and strengthen internal morale.
By modestly reducing discretionary executive benefits and tightening incentive structures, the organization can achieve both direct cost savings and stronger credibility in cost-management communications.

Implementation Path

1.  Amend the 2025–2026 LTIP design to weight free cash flow per BOE and cash return on capital employed (CROCE) more heavily than TSR.
2.  Revisit perquisite policies for NEOs (aircraft use, club dues, financial counseling).
3.  Announce executive pay moderation internally concurrent with cost-optimization updates to reinforce shared responsibility.
4.  Frame public disclosures to highlight “leadership alignment with shareholder discipline.”

Proposed Adjustments to Executive Compensation (2025–2026)
• Reduce “All Other Compensation” by 50% (≈ $0.26 million)
→ Symbolic alignment with workforce austerity.
• Cap annual incentive payouts at 80% of target for 2025–2026
→ Estimated savings of $3–4 million.
→ Reinforces a direct tie between cost efficiency and reward.
• Suspend deferred compensation match and non-core perquisites
→ Estimated savings of $1 million.
→ Immediate cost savings; signals fiscal discipline.
• Freeze CEO and NEO base salaries for 24 months
→ Estimated savings of $0.2 million.
→ Visible commitment to cost control and leadership accountability.
• Replace 25% of RSU grants with performance shares linked to Free Cash Flow per BOE (FCF/BOE)
→ Cost neutral over time.
→ Strengthens long-term shareholder alignment without increasing expense.

Total projected direct savings: approximately $5–6 million annually, with significant reputational and cultural benefits.

How in the world is ATC still open? It is nothing but a financial burden in a time when we are trying to cut money from everything. How much money could be saved by shutting this useless money put down.

Nothing of use has come from this place, except for expensive lunches and events. People bi--h about us being remote but don't care that this place is draining money from Nike.

I need somebody to confirm the specific type of visa we are using to bring people over from KLTC and BTC. After the recent layoff announcements I think it’s high time for employees to go on defense. Based on my own research I think there is a credible case to be made the company is violating the intent of the visas being granted. If so, it’s time for employees to start leaving anonymous tips to several government offices who could investigate (USCIS, Homeland Security Investigations, Dept of Labor inspector general). More on that later. I need somebody with SPECIFIC knowledge of how we are bringing people over to comment.

Here’s the situation I have observed for years now: employees from our overseas technical centers come to U.S. manufacturing sites for 1–2-year assignments. They’ve typically worked for the company abroad for a couple of years in process or technical support roles, then rotate into our entry-level plant engineer jobs here.

The company says this is part of a rotation program to build knowledge, but these engineers seem to be doing the same daily production-support work as U.S. college-hire engineers — not managing people or bringing unique proprietary technology. Many of these sites now have at least one rotational engineer on staff at any given time, which could give the impression this is not about training, but instead a cost reduction program. Paired with decreasing headcount at the same sites, it might give the impression these visas are being used to promote offshoring.

Does that kind of role meet the L-1A or L-1B definition? From what I’ve read, L-1A is for managers/executives and L-1B for specialized knowledge. What type of visa are these ex pats?

Would this typically be considered valid use of the L-1 category?

BNYM has been saying they ‘need’ to layoff employees to cut costs for several Years now. How is this still a valid/acceptable statement???
I’d LOVE to see the financial records supporting BNYMs stance to continuously layoff employees, yet have thousand of open Career Opportunities available. It is costly to hire new employees, and layoffs create a fear based environment. Why isn’t BNYM committed to Develop and Retain employees???

Better tighten those seatbelts folks, because sudden CFO exit is always a red flag for costs and strategy changes. CFO departures always raise questions about future capital plans, which may pressure management to cut costs, restructure teams, or slow projects that affect jobs. In other words, we're sc--wed. This will especially affect those in finance, project controls, or field roles, so make sure you prepare for the worst.

From the Freep:
For the first time ever, Ford to sell a car from its private vault to the public
Ford Motor Co. is opening its private vault of vehicles, for the first time ever, to sell a rare supercar to the public at auction.

The plan is to use all of the money raised from the auction of the car to renovate and maintain the other vehicles in Ford's Heritage Fleet as well as prepare its GT collection in England for Le Mans next year. Also, Ford said this may be the first of other cars in the fleet to be offered to the public for purchase, the automaker said on Oct. 13.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2025/10/13/ford-motor-private-vault-sale-ford-heritage-edition-gt/86672990007/

The geniuses leading us led to this:

Auditing firm BDO USA has conducted layoffs and suspended non essential travel to cut costs while managing a $1.3 billion ESOP related loan from Apollo Global Management.

Bloomberg reporting cited by Yahoo Finance says the roughly 9 percent interest debt, reduced by 100 basis points after a June 30 refinancing, is pressuring multiple departments including tax, audit, and advisory. BDO declined comment on client matters.

The firm also faces scrutiny from a proposed ESOP class action alleging workers overpaid to join the plan, and reputational fallout from First Brands Group’s bankruptcy after BDO provided a clean audit opinion.

Despite headwinds, a source said the firm remains financially stable and continues to optimize operations. BDO reported $2.89 billion in revenue for the year ended December 31 and in September announced plans to hire more than 1,300 people from HORNE.

BDO USA - Chicago IL

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bdo-usa-lays-off-employees-100153492.html

iHeart has begun its annual fall layoffs amid a broader push for profitability, with speculation of hundreds of cuts nationwide. In Los Angeles, KFI 640 AM let go evening host Morris W. O’Kelly minus Mo’Kelly minus his producer Tawala Sharp, imaging director Clay Roe, and Real 92.3’s overnight host Chuck Dizzle. The moves come as KFI’s ratings have softened and the station adapts after leadership changes and newsroom cuts, though KFI still tied for 14th in the market in September.

CEO Bob Pittman’s 2024 compensation drew criticism in the piece, alongside a noted 46 percent staff reduction over 10 years across the company. Separate from the layoffs, a lawsuit filed by former Alt 98.7 morning co host Renae Ravey alleges age discrimination against show host Jeff Fife minus Woody minus which iHeart and Fife have not commented on.

iHeartMedia - Los Angeles CA -

https://www.ocregister.com/2025/10/13/radio-station-layoffs-add-to-the-chill-in-the-autumn-air/

https://www.reddit.com/r/IBM/comments/1o4xtrr/managers_are_forced_to_lay_off_good_people/

"I’ve been in meetings with very senior leaders and they are hunting through the ranks of B9-10 and D to find folks to let go to make room for higher bands in India."

It has taken awhile to get my mind around this, but the old model of Optum being able to hire a set of onshore engineers or analysts and throw millions at that is permanently over. Wall Street no longer trusts UNH, and for a long time despite very opaque reports on how money was made we plowed through with various revenue claims that any normal company would have been called out on. That’s over-no more moving money from UNH to Optum and calling it revenue, no more selling off groups then buying them back, no more projects that may be profitable someday. There are no more games to play. If a group isn’t profitable now, there’s zero chance it’s going to be added to, and will probably be cut. Bonuses are going to go towards zero, whatever was left of the country club is going away. If you hear you will hire more people someday, don’t count on it. The layers of managers who spend days building PowerPoint for other managers are next for the cut-if you’re not delivering to bottom line, find a way to.

to reduce pay levels & boost profits all firms using AI scare mongering. Long way to go before is reliable

To effectively control and reduce operational expenses (OPEX), companies can implement the following strategies:

Conduct Comprehensive Spend Assessments: Analyze spending patterns and cost centers to identify areas for cost reduction.

Utilize Data-Driven Insights: Implement advanced analytics tools to gain actionable insights and benchmarks for cost-saving strategies.

Negotiate Better Terms: Regularly evaluate vendor contracts and negotiate better terms with suppliers to secure volume discounts.

Strengthen Supplier Relationships: Build and maintain strong relationships with key suppliers to enhance collaboration and mutual cost-saving goals.

Develop Category-Specific Strategies: Create tailored strategies for high-impact categories, focusing on cost drivers and market conditions.

Optimize Across Categories: Identify synergies across different categories to leverage buying power and reduce costs on a holistic level.

Implement Procurement Technology: Adopt e-procurement platforms and spend analysis tools to streamline processes and enhance cost control.

By applying these strategies, companies can not only control their OPEX but also drive value and ensure long-term sustainability.

https://www.golimelight.com/blog/opex-planning

Please don’t get lulled into a false sense of security thinking this is over. The sad fact is that we no longer have job security. It doesn’t matter how long any of us have been here or how much value we bring every day. All that matters is that they want to keep cutting costs, and if the numbers fit, you’re gone.

All that's been happening are random cost-cutting and chaos. I honestly don't see much of a future here anymore.