14 DAY TRIAL // The tech sector is going through some rough times and it looks like the layoff season is in full swing. After job cuts at big companies like Microsoft, EA, or AOL, it's time for software giant Adobe to trim its workforce by a significant number. The company has revealed in a SEC filing that it will lay off about 680 people, or about 9 percent of its workforce.
“On November 10, 2009, we announced a workforce reduction to appropriately align our costs in connection with our 2010 operating plan (the “Restructuring Plan”). As a result, we expect to eliminate approximately 680 full-time positions worldwide,” the filing reads.
“We expect to record in the aggregate approximately $65.0 to $71.0 million in pre-tax restructuring charges associated with this Restructuring Plan. Included in these charges are approximately $17.0 to $19.0 million primarily related to the consolidation of leased facilities and approximately $48.0 to $52.0 million related to employee severance arrangements,” Adobe adds.
Adobe notes that these layoffs don't involve jobs at the recently-acquired Omniture, a web analytics company it bought for $1.8 billion. In fact, Adobe has already announced plans to let go about 9 percent of Omniture's workforce of about 1,200 people as well. Adobe previously went through a similar move in December last year, when it fired 600 employees, about 8 percent of the people working for the software giant at the time.
The new wave of layoffs was, in fact, anticipated after several bad quarters in terms of revenue, culminating with a very poor third quarter this year, when profits dropped 29 percent coupled with a decline in revenue. The company has been facing lowered revenue for about a year now, after poor sales of its flagship Creative Suite 4 which launched last autumn. Revenue in the current fourth quarter is also expected to be down and the company wants to prepare itself for 2010 which, despite signs of recovery, still looks like a tough year for many tech companies.