Arm has 11 months to hire 490 UK techies. Good thing there isn't a pandemic on. Or, say, Brexit
- Reference: 1602511789
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/10/12/arm_11_months_to_hire_490/
- Source link:
Arm has a little less than 11 months to recruit 490 new workers, with the lion's share of positions in technical roles.
The dilemma stems from an agreement made with the London-based Panel on Takeover and Mergers (commonly referred to as the Takeover Panel), when the new Japanese owner of Arm promised to double its UK headcount to 3,494 from 2016's 1,747
[2]PDF
.Complicating matters further, at least 70 per cent of Arm's workforce must be in roles deemed "technical". This condition was presumably conceived as a safeguard against either Arm or parent Softbank curtailing recruitment of highly paid engineers and architects in favour of cheaper, unskilled positions.
The latest update provided to the Takeover Panel shows Softbank has made some progress towards its goal. [3]A Post-Offer Undertaking made last week showed its current headcount at 3,004, with 2,238 employees working in technical roles. All roles were listed as full time, with Arm reporting no part-timers on its payroll.
Technical positions accounted for 74.5 per cent of its headcount, a figure exceeding the target set by the Takeover Panel, but is nonetheless a drop from 2016, when 77.5 per cent of workers were in technical roles.
Arm faces some potential headwinds in the coming months as it aims to recruit the final promised 490 workers. The COVID-19 pandemic massively complicates recruitment efforts, making it hard to interview and onboard any new workers. On the Brexit front, the UK's transition period is set to expire in the coming months. Any new immigration regime will prove inevitably more bureaucratic and expensive than freedom of movement.
In a statement provided to El Reg , an Arm spokesperson said: "Arm is on track to meet the commitment of doubling its UK workforce by 5th September 2021 and is confident it will hit that target."
Failing to meet this target could potentially complicate Softbank's attempt to offload Arm to US graphics giant Nvidia. In September, Nvidia confirmed it [4]would acquire Arm for $40bn , representing an $8bn markup on the original purchase price of $32bn. This deal will require regulatory sign-off, both in the UK and China, where Arm has [5]significant (and semi-autonomous) operations . ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2016/07/18/softbank_to_buy_arm_holdings_say_reports/
[2] https://www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/Panel-ARA-2017.pdf
[3] https://www.investegate.co.uk/softbank-group-corp-/rns/post-offer-undertakings/202010050700060257B/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/14/nvida_arm_acquisition/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2018/06/06/softbank_offloads_51_per_cent_of_arm_china_for_a_bargain_7752m/
[6] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Void Brexit Woes
Such a defeatist attitude. Tell you what, why not just sell it all to the Chinese? or the Russians?
Or maybe, just maybe, you could actually do something constructive instead of sitting on your arse waiting for the EU to tell you how to live your life?
Re: Void Brexit Woes
It’s not defeatist to be realistic. You might believe in rainbow farting unicorns, but the rest of us have to live in the real world and try to fix the incalculable damage wrought by the brexiteers and trumpists. True, a lot of the damage will be irreparable - but we can at least minimise its impact. And the first step toward fixing the problem is recognising that there is one. The next step is rebuilding the alliances, agreements, and trust that the far right and the conspiracy theorists have spent the last five years smashing up.
Re: Void Brexit Woes
Move to Europe is the classical definition of Brexit, it was sold as UK exit from Europe but now we're seeing a lot of companies quietly moving abroad - this is achieving BR exit which has the potential to make a nice profit for the corporate owners, not the workers.
What will happen? Nobody knows, for us workers it's just Russian British Roulette.
Re: Void Brexit Woes
British Roulette differs from Russian Roulette, in that typically all the chambers are loaded.
Re: Void Brexit Woes
...and you aim to shoot yourself in the foot, rather than the head.
I can't honestly see the Nvidia deal going through, unless Trump is ousted in the upcoming election. There is no way China is going to agree to ARM being sold to an American company that Trump can then put restrictions on who they can sell to in the name of national security.
Void Brexit Woes
Wouldn't it be easier to move to Europe as so many British firms have done ?