Bristol Myers Squibb to cut 2,200 jobs

Bristol Myers Squibb revealed in its first-quarter 2024 earnings report on Thursday that it will implement a sweeping “strategic productivity initiative” in a bid to generate approximately $1.5 billion in cost savings through 2025, including eliminating around 2,200 jobs by the end of 2024.

Under the realignment effort, BMS is looking to optimize its operations by reducing management layers, among other cost-cutting measures, according to the company’s Thursday investor presentation. The pharma said it will use these savings to fund innovation, paying particular attention to R&D programs with the highest potential return on investment with an eye toward long-term growth.

BMS’ restructuring efforts come as the pharma sustained a 6% drop in sales for Opdivo (nivolumab). In the first quarter of 2024, the lung cancer therapy brought in nearly $2.1 billion worldwide, down from a little more than $2.2 billion in revenue during the same period in 2023.

The CAR-T therapy Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel)—which Elkins said was “impacted by ongoing competitive pressures” and “unfavorable pricing pressures”—also took a 44% sales hit, brining only $82 million worldwide in Q1, compared to $147 million in the same period last year. In April 2024, the FDA approved the use of Abecma as an earlier-line treatment for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

Despite these sales slumps, BMS brought in almost $11.87 billion in Q1, a 6% increase from the same period the prior year and beating consensus estimates, according to an investor note from William Blair analyst Matt Phipps.

Reblozyl (luspatercept), indicated for anemia in beta thalassemia and myelodysplastic syndromes, was a strong driver of BMS’ Q1 growth raking in $354 million worldwide and representing a 72% increase. The melanoma therapy Opdualag (nivolumab/relatlimab) also performed well in the quarter, with sales spiking 76% to $206 million.

The anticoagulant Eliquis (apixaban) was BMS’ top-performing asset bringing in $3.72 billion, which is a 9% jump from the same period in 2023.

Tesla to lay off 2,688 workers in Austin, more than 3,000 in California

Tesla Inc. will be laying off 2,688 employees at its Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, and more than 3,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in California, the EV maker said in official notices.

At the Austin Gigafactory, the layoffs equal to about 12% of staff at the facility and will start June 14, according to to a worker adjustment and retraining notification, or WARN notice, which companies are required to file with a state labor department to give workers 60 days’ notice before layoffs.

WARN notices in California call for more than 2,500 layoffs in the Bay Area, mostly at the Tesla factory in Fremont and former headquarters in Palo Alto, and a few hundred more in Burbank, southern California, and the Central Valley's Lanthrop, where Tesla makes energy-storage products. The layoffs in California are starting on June 14, Tesla told the state.

The company already announced it would lay off 285 workers at two plants in Buffalo, N.Y., equal to 14% of that workforce, starting July 15.

Tesla recently announced large-scale job cuts equal to more than 10% of its global workforce as it struggles to boost profit and pave a path to future growth.

Nike to layoff 740 Portland area workers

 BEAVERTON, Ore. (KPTV) – Nike has announced the layoff 740 workers at its world headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, as part of a company restructuring plan.

On Friday, the company reported the layoffs to the state’s Office of Workforce Investments.

The filing is the start of a second wave of layoffs. The company previously let go a number of workers in February.

In February, CEO John Donahoe announced that Nike would layoff 2% of its total workforce, or about 1,600 people, but didn’t provide specifics.

The layoffs in Oregon announced Friday do not affect retail stores or manufacturing facilities. Only workers at Nike’s campus in Beaverton will be affected.

Nike provided the following statement to KPTV on Friday:

“Nike’s always at our best when we’re on the offense. The actions that we’re taking put us in the position to right-size our organization to get after our biggest growth opportunities as interest in sport, health and wellness have never been stronger. While these changes will impact approximately 2% of our total workforce, we are grateful for the contributions made by all Nike teammates.”

Nike is one of the Pacific Northwest’s largest employers, with more than 15,500 employees in Oregon and Southwest Washington, and more than 83,000 employees worldwide.

Google Fires 28 Workers Protesting $1.2 Billion Israeli Contract

Google has fired 28 employees who staged in sit-in which was protesting the company’s $1.2 billion cloud contract with Israeli government.

Nine employees were also arrested.

In a note sent to employees the company says: “If you're one of the few who are tempted to think we're going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again.”

Googlers,

You may have seen reports of protests at some of our offices yesterday. Unfortunately, a number of employees brought the event into our buildings in New York and Sunnyvale. They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers.

Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made coworkers feel threatened. We placed employees involved under investigation and cut their access to our systems. Those who refused to leave were arrested by law enforcement and removed from our offices.

Following investigation, today we terminated the employment of twenty-eight employees found to be involved. We will continue to investigate and take action as needed.

Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it. It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to - including our Code of Conduct and Policy on Harassment, Discrimination, Retaliation, Standards of Conduct, and Workplace Concerns.

We are a place of business and every Googler is expected to read our policies and apply them to how they conduct themselves and communicate in our workplace. The overwhelming majority of our employees do the right thing. If you're one of the few who are tempted to think we're going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again. The company takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior — up to and including termination.

You should expect to hear more from leaders about standards of behavior and discourse in the workplace.

Tesla is slashing its workforce by more than 10%

Tesla is slashing its workforce by more than 10%, part of a global retrenchment for Elon Musk’s embattled electric vehicle maker as it struggles with slowing demand. 

 

In an email to workers, the chief executive cited duplication of roles and the need to cut costs. If Musk’s mass firings apply companywide, they would amount to more than 14,000 people losing their jobs. 

 

Alongside the terminations, Senior Vice President Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel, vice president of public policy and business development, are said to have departed. Baglino, an 18-year company veteran, is said to have resigned. Analysts are bracing for the EV maker’s sales to possibly shrink, citing slow output of its Cybertruck and a coming lull in new products.

Take-Two Interactive laying off around 5 percent of its workforce, or approx. 579 workers

Take-Two Interactive announced today that it is laying off 5 percent of its workforce, or more than 500 employees, despite earlier claims that it had "no current plans" for additional layoffs. 

 In the filiing, Take-Two said it is "eliminating several projects in development and streamlining its organizational structure," which includes laying off workers. Take-Two said it expects to incur between $160 and $200 million in total charges, with $120 million to $140 million related to title cancellations.

Apple to lay off more than 600, weeks after canceling electric-vehicle project

Apple Inc. is laying off more than 600 workers in Silicon Valley, weeks after pulling the plug on its secretive, self-driving EV.

Those are the first significant job cuts for Apple since the pandemic. According to a filing with the state of California, 614 employees were informed on March 28 that they’ll lose their jobs, effective May 27. The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the layoffs.

In February, Apple reportedly abandoned its years-long plans to build an autonomous electric vehicle. At the time, Bloomberg News reported that some employees on the project would be shifted to other departments, while others would likely be laid off.

While the state filing did not specify the car project, the layoffs will affect workers at eight satellite offices in Santa Clara, Calif., though none at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

Citi to lay off 430 employees in New York across units

 (Reuters) -Citigroup will lay off 430 employees across different divisions in New York, the bank disclosed in filings with the State Department of Labor on Monday.

The layoffs will impact 363 employees of the lender's primary banking unit, Citibank. Workers in the technology and broker-dealer arm will also be affected, the filings showed.

The bank last week ended a sweeping overhaul, its biggest in decades, as part of an effort to simplify its structure and improve performance.

Unveiled in September, the reorganization reduced management layers to eight from 13 as part of an effort to cut bureaucracy. Citi has also set a goal to trim its global workforce by 20,000 over the next two years.

The lender did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment. The latest layoffs are scheduled for June, according to the filings.

The bank's CEO, Jane Fraser, said in January that Citi had cut 1,500 managerial roles, comprising 13% of its worldwide leaders. The changes would create annual savings of about $1 billion, she said at the time.