Friday November 14, 2008

Sun Microsystems to cut 6000 jobs amid global credit crisis, Java pioneer Rich Green to leave

bloomberg.com :

Sun Microsystems plans to cut as many as 6,000 workers amid the global credit crisis. The reduction will eliminate as much as 18% of the staff, Sun said today [14 Nov 2008] - it had 33,000 employees at the end of September. The company is cutting back to cope with the "global economic realities," CEO Jonathan Schwartz said. Rich Green, executive vice president for software, will leave. Sun last month posted its second loss in three quarters and said its financial-services customers were curbing orders until they have more liquidity. Sun is the third company in Santa Clara to cut jobs this week. Applied Materials announced plans to cut 1,800 jobs, and National Semiconductor said it will shed about 5% of staff.

- This is hardly the first time that Sun has had to wield the axe. But in this environment of ongoing global economic collapse, this hardly comes as a surprise either. What is really telling in this instance is how the rapidly imploding financial industry is dragging down entire chunks of the business eco-system around it as it sinks, from limo drivers in New York to Broadway shows to IT jobs and now to server companies. The body count will be high.

See also :

1. Wave of job cuts across corporate America, mass layoffs well beyond Wall Street
2. New York may lose 165000 jobs on mass layoffs due to credit crisis
3. London banks to cut 62000 jobs in mass layoffs as credit crisis worsens
4. United States Postal Service to cut 40000 jobs in first layoff in history

(2008-11-14 23:01:56 SGT) [Java] Permalink

NYMEX crude oil prices rebound after fall to $54.67, OPEC to discuss further production cut

bloomberg.com :

NYMEX crude oil prices rebounded from the 21-month low touched yesterday [13 Nov 2008], as equities advanced and amid speculation a 10% drop in prices the previous two days wasn't justified. Futures touched $54.67, the lowest since 30 Jan 2007, when IEA slashed its 2009 oil-demand forecast by the most in 12 years amid deteriorating global economic growth. Prices have tumbled 60% since reaching a record $147.27 on 11 July 2008. OPEC plans to meet in Cairo on 29 Nov 2008 to discuss a further production cut. OPEC earlier decided at a meeting in Vienna to cut the production target for 11 of the group's members by 1.5 million barrels a day.

- The peakoilers are already having fun with a new "How low can crude oil go?" thread. However, in the mid to long term, this is no laughing matter as tar sands operations require between $80-100 oil to continue operations, and some producers like Iran and Venezuela require $70-80 oil to break even (which kind of explains why these have been the ones yelling the loudest for another OPEC production cut).

Already Shell and other Canadian oil sands operators are putting off expansion plans. The race is on between a contracting economy and contracting oil production. It's a race to the bottom to see which will shrink faster. Will the oil depletion rate shrink faster at IEA's 9.1%, or will the ongoing Global Economic Collapse / Second Great Depression mean that the economy will shrink faster than 9.1%? Or will oil production and the economy follow each other down a death spiral? For most of the people involved in the global economy, this is *Not A Good Thing* (TM).

See also :

1. NYMEX crude oil price falls below $90 as credit crisis deepens in Europe
2. NYMEX crude oil drops below $80 as financial market meltdown continues
3. NYMEX crude oil falls for the third day to below $72 on recession concern
4. NYMEX crude oil drops below $60 on demand destruction concerns

(2008-11-14 17:20:25 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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