Arm to drop up to 15 percent of staff – about 1,000 people
- Reference: 1647320887
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/03/15/arm_job_cuts/
- Source link:
An email to staff from Arm CEO Rene Haas, seen and [1]reported by the UK's Daily Telegraph, states: "To stay competitive, we need to remove duplication of work now that we are one Arm; stop work that is no longer critical to our future success; and think about how we get work done."
Haas, who has been in the chief exec's chair for about a month, added Arm needs "to be more disciplined about our costs and where we're investing."
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"I write this knowing that although it is the right thing to do for Arm’s future, this is not going to be easy," he added.
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Between 12 and 15 per cent of staff will be let go as a result globally. The biz employs 6,400 worldwide.
Arm spokespeople are having none of that, preferring a message that the redundancies are a regular trim of the sort a prudent business conducts from time to time and in no way a sign of any malaise or change in strategy.
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Of course, Arm has had a change of strategy forced upon it by "significant regulatory challenges" that saw [6]Nvidia call off its proposed $66 billion acquisition of Arm.
SoftBank, Arm's owner, responded to that setback with a plan to float the chip design firm by March 2023. That gives Arm plenty of time to get this round of redundancies done, let the unpleasantness fade, and write a prospectus that features a lovely low cost base.
Investors in new floats generally admire balance sheets that hint at strong future profits. Lowering costs ahead of an initial public offering is therefore an oft-deployed tactic.
[7]'We gave it our best shot' Nvidia CEO tells Wall Street after failed Arm deal
[8]Working in Arm's engineering team? You're probably happy with your pay rise
[9]Better CEO is 'taking time off' after firing 900 staff on Zoom
In Arm's case, this move may not be so well received if the firm sheds staff involved in product design or development. The planet is not exactly flush with such folk at present, and much of Arm's appeal to investors lies in its deep technical expertise. It is therefore likely that most of the redundancies will be staff not directly involved in Arm's core activities.
Arm China, meanwhile, is contemplating a float of its own. The rogue Arm outpost, which is led by CEO Allen Wu and majority owned by Chinese entities, has become something of a problem for Arm because Wu was fired but has managed to retain his position. The CEO [10]told The South China Morning Post that Arm China has set its sights on its own float in 2025.
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Given the plentiful global weirdness of the last two years – the COVID-19 pandemic was declared on March 11, 2020 – planning anything three years into the future seems rather optimistic. ®
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[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/03/14/british-tech-champion-arm-slash-hundreds-jobs/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YjBx2ohCI@Yrlp74y9xTbQAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YjBx2ohCI@Yrlp74y9xTbQAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YjBx2ohCI@Yrlp74y9xTbQAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YjBx2ohCI@Yrlp74y9xTbQAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/08/arm_cancels_sale_to_nvidia/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/17/nvidia_q4_fy2022_arm/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/03/arm_staff_get_pay_rise/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/10/better_ceo_holiday/
[10] https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3168443/arm-china-ceo-asserts-semiconductor-joint-ventures-right-pursue-ipo
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YjBx2ohCI@Yrlp74y9xTbQAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
1000 skilled and experienced people taking their talents to help rival companies, startups etc.
They are not going to layoff their skilled and experienced people, I guess...
When I've been in companies where redundancies are being made once the decision is made to make people redundant the last thing on managements mind is trying to keep the valuable ones. Its invariably the valuable ones that are the most troublesome and first on the list.
“They are not going to layoff their skilled and experienced people, I guess...”
You would think so. I have no experience at ARM but I have found that such businesses don’t know who their most valuable people are.
I've been made redundant twice. Dodged the 3rd one by leaving before the company went bust.
It's an unpleasant experience but with hindsight, has always worked out for the best.
Most of these people are highly skilled and will have no problems finding another job. The ones without useful skills can always work in the public sector.
I've also been made redundant twice - first time when I was going to resign (Result!), second not so much fun. Both times where when the market for jobs was shit. Fortunately neither time was I forced into finding another job quickly, which, even with useful skills can be a bloody painful and stressful time. The first time I got made redundant the only options were to work abroad to use my skills, something I really didnt fancy as pretty much any post would have been a step down! The second time I'd branched into IT but it would still have involved moving around the UK at the least, and the expense of moving house would have been horrendous. I have been incredibly lucky in that twice I've moved and had difficulty selling the old house but managed to rent it to friends (at a considerable discount from market rates) and as such have made more money from property than I've earned. I doubt anyone being made redundant now will have anything like the opportunities we had, and many will probably be legally blocked from using a lot of their accumulated knowledge!
"many will probably be legally blocked from using a lot of their accumulated knowledge"
Would that really be the case? I'd have thought it would be difficult to argue that the knowledge you've just declared redundant is valuable. At the very least it would be ammunition in an employment tribunal and would likely earn a bigger payout.
The IP is protected but your skills are yours to use as freely as you wish.
Haas, who has been in the chief exec's chair for about a month
So they've appointed someone who's come in raring to go with the innovative and original idea of slashing the workforce to cut costs and blindly believing that this will increase profits long term, because there is no way on Earth that he will have been able to come in and gain a full and deep understanding of their technology, skill base, future potential and strategic thinking in the space of 4 weeks.
One thing's for certain, nobody asked him the question "how do you intend to prevent us going the same way as IBM" at the job interview.
1,000 people thrown into the bin to satisfy shareholders.... bloody bastards.