Marcus and Millichap to lay off 20% of salaried staff
[{"id": "fs530wr", "text": "&gt;Marcus &amp; Millichap plans to lay off 20 percent of its workforce as the publicly traded commercial real estate brokerage goes through a restructuring.\n\n&gt;The company, which is headquartered in Calabasas and has a market cap of $1.12 billion, revealed its pandemic response plan in a May 11 public filing. Part of the plan was \u201ca reduction of the company\u2019s employee workforce by 20 percent,\u201d which comes to about 175 of an 877-person workforce.\n\n&gt;The layoffs affect salaried staff. They would not impact brokers, who are independent contractors that earn their keep from sales, debt and leasing commissions.\n\n&gt;The company has reported 53 of these layoffs to the California Employment Development Department over the past two weeks.\n\n&gt;The affected employees mentioned in state filings are scattered across California. The head office in Calabasas saw the most pink slips, at 19. The layoffs are listed as temporary, but a return date for the workers is not provided.\n\n&gt;Marcus &amp; Millichap\u2019s announcement comes as commercial brokerages nationwide face an economic disaster that has thrown into question the demand for office, retail, and pretty much any non-residential space. Eastdil Secured and JLL each announced layoffs of more than 30 employees earlier this month.\n\n&gt;CBRE and Cushman &amp; Wakefield, meanwhile, announced significant layoffs prior to the pandemic taking full flight.\n\n&gt;A Marcus &amp; Millichap representative responded to questions by pointing back to the company\u2019s public reports, and stating, \u201cDespite unprecedented challenges that COVID-19 presents for the country and business in nearly every sector, we remain focused on the health and well-being of our team and clients, and our continued delivery of industry leading services.\u201d\n\n&gt;The Securities and Exchange Commission filing, part of the company\u2019s quarterly earnings report, does not say what positions will be eliminated or how the layoffs will be carried out. CEO Hessam Nadji did not mention the layoffs during the earnings call, and no one asked a question about them, according to a call transcript.\n\n&gt;The filing does note that in \u201cresponse to this period of business disruption,\u201d we \u201cinstituted various controllable expense reduction initiatives\u201d including base salary reductions for senior executives, management and key personnel, furloughs and layoffs \u201cto preserve our balance sheet and financial position.\u201d\n\n&gt;These reductions include a 25 percent base salary cut for Nadji, and a 20 percent cut for other executive officers.\n\n&gt;Marcus &amp; Millichap went public in 2013.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fs53gqx", "text": "Yikes, that\u2019s a pretty big chunk of people. Looks like MM brokers are going to hve a little more work to do themselves without those (presumably) support staff", "replies": [{"id": "fs55vjg", "text": "You mean (sic) start doing work", "replies": [{"id": "fs59em4", "text": "Since leaving M&amp;M, I\u2019ve been my own TC, my own graphic designer, my own social media marketer, my own everything. Totally worth it to be able to keep my commission to myself.", "replies": [{"id": "fs5aaqf", "text": "Wholeheartedly agree.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "fs5adtp", "text": "That was a Wise Choice my friend. Cheers to the future \ud83c\udf7b", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "fs5xn9y", "text": "There are a lot of really great resources, especially for graphic design  and putting together OMs. I would highly recommend outsourcing that.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "fs602m5", "text": "Really glad I\u2019m not there anymore. It\u2019s a sweatshop for brokers, and new ones are put through a meet grinder with no support.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "fs61r9v", "text": "So how much commission did you give up on each transaction for the support staff?", "replies": [{"id": "fs7r0df", "text": "The house takes half, or more if you\u2019re a rookie", "replies": [{"id": "fs7uy62", "text": "Okay wow. So is it warranted? Do they actually give a lot of support?", "replies": [{"id": "fs8fbxt", "text": "It really depends on where you go. I did a stint at a big name brokerage (not m&amp;m but similar) that had some helpful marketing materials but that was pretty much all they offered. As a rookie my cut came out to 45% of the commission. The biggest thing they offer isn\u2019t tangible, it\u2019s legal protection. If you fuck up and there\u2019s a law suit then they go after the brokerage, not the actual broker (broker might get fired but not sued)", "replies": [{"id": "fs8fzgh", "text": "Okay well thats a good protection to have. And as a senior on the team I\u2019d guess that cut lessens to 25%?", "replies": [{"id": "fs8i2cz", "text": "The cut gets bigger the longer you\u2019ve been around but where I was you\u2019d never see more than 50% take, senior brokers would get 48 or 49. If you\u2019re on a team the top dog took half of the 50% and the remaining 50% would be split up between the more junior guys. In my state with that brokerage you would net about 11-15k after tax and splits on a million dollar sale at 6% commish. The splits totally depend on the brokerage though", "replies": [], "depth": 9}], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}, {"id": "fwo8bdc", "text": "I\u2019m curious, how much you pay a graphic designer for OMs? What about social media/email marketing. Thanks!", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fs55nd3", "text": "I have been saying all along that it is extremely tough to get into commercial real estate this year for inexperienced real estate professionals. People need to have PLAN B.", "replies": [{"id": "fs5ajsa", "text": "Brokers, however, are more valuable in a transitioning or down market. Starting out is always tough so why not cut your teeth in a tough market. I agree though, I've seen some brokers by me come in and simply slap a high price on a deal and wait for a buyer.", "replies": [{"id": "fs7i4sj", "text": "Yeah, the only really bad market for brokers is if things are flat for an extended period of time or all demand vanishes like in 2008. \n\nWith this, there's still plenty of money out there for deals these days, owners are finally more open to doing something, and are really need of our services (especially if you are a smart consultative broker). I sell infill/covered land and have been busier this past 2 months than ive ever been", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fs5sycn", "text": "Meanwhile I just saw NAI posting a PM opportunity", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fs5tdv3", "text": "CBRE doing same thing", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fs7mg1p", "text": "Got laid off end of April - was an analyst for one of their debt brokers. \n\nI was on a conference call at 12 PM that day, and at 2 PM I had been kicked off the company server and blocked out of my company email. Called my boss, who sounded like she had no idea what was happening (but I suspect knew it was coming at some point in time), and then it took another 30 minutes to hear from my regional manager to actually tell me I was being let go. When I had to turn in my company property and clean out my desk, my RM promised he would meet me there and we could talk more about it. He never showed up. Never felt smaller than in that moment.\n\nHopefully the other 175 employees were treated a little more graciously than in my experience.", "replies": [{"id": "fs8zm7a", "text": "It sucks but hopefully you recover. In a similar situation so just curious you got any ideas what to do next in coming months", "replies": [{"id": "fs9mj2y", "text": "Probably just gonna ride the summer out unemployed - take some time to vacation and do hobbies mostly. Not a lot of jobs to apply for at the moment but hoping by the end of summer/start of fall might have some stuff to start looking at.\n\nFortunately, I can do some freelance work at my old consulting job if I want so I might do an odd job or two if I get especially bored.\n\nHang in there, it's definitely a rough time to be unemployed. Hope you are able to get back on your feet relatively quickly as well.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "i5vuhrj", "text": "The SAME exact thing happened to me. I was laid off at the end of April 2020, It was pay day and I noticed I was paid an unusually high amount (not my normal pay) so I asked my operations manager about it. She acted like she had no idea and said she would follow up with me. An hour later I receive a call from the vp telling me they need to let me go. Asked when I could bring the work equipment in and said he would meet me when I bring the equipment. The day I brought my equipment in, I called and called and no one answered. So I brought everything into the building and left it at the front desk and dipped. I\u2019ve \u201chealed\u201d from that but reading how our situations are soooo similar, makes me feel some type of way. Smh. \n\nThank you for sharing your experience here.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fs7n1ek", "text": "Is it just me or are M&amp;M brokers always the LEAST willing to co-broke.  If I hear \u201cwe don\u2019t co-broke\u201d or \u201chave your buyer pay you\u201d one more time I\u2019m gonna rip my hair out.\n\nI hate to shit talk but they\u2019ve always been the biggest douchebags to me. EVERYBODY else from the other big firms (JLL, Colliers, NKF etc.) are cool to me", "replies": [{"id": "fs8h7gb", "text": "One M&amp;M broker offered me 1% to co-broke", "replies": [{"id": "fs935st", "text": "What was the deal size?", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]