







Source: Business Week

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RE: Pretty generous severance...
By FITCamaro on 10/31/2011 11:13:41 AM , Rating: 1
Businesses are in business to make money and stay profitable for their shareholders. Who are people.

With any large merger like this there's always going to be job losses due to redundant jobs. You don't need two people doing the same thing.

Don't act like this is corporations sticking it to the man.

RE: Pretty generous severance...
By FlyBri on 10/31/2011 5:10:05 PM , Rating: 3
@FITCamaro Look, I'm not going to get into whether or not this specific layoff is ultimately a good decision or not, but while you're right that businesses are in business to make money and stay profitable for their shareholders (people), you have a simplified view of everything.

First off, who are the majority shareholders in many corporations? Many times it's executives and other higher-ups who are directly related to the business. Also, businesses aren't just worried about their shareholders, but also their stakeholders (any person with interest or concern in the business, i.e. strategic partners, etc. who don't necessarily have to own any stock).

And while "trimming the fat" during mergers is typical of companies, it isn't always the best long-term plan. In the short term, sure, it may add to their bottom line, but in a lot of cases it's not the best long-term plan, and just a quick and easy fix for the short term.

Sometimes companies are too worried about shareholders due to stock price, making sure they can give a dividend, etc., rather than the operations of their business. As a result, their stock price may stabilize in the short-term, but long-term it will eventually suffer because their core business degrades. Hate to use the example, but Apple doesn't give out dividends because it rather use the money for building the business, which makes them worry less about appeasing shareholders and more focused on growing the business.

So, in some instances people have the right to feel that corporations are screwing over their employees. Finally, I know what you were getting at obviously, but just wanted to let you know that you used the phrase "sticking it to The Man" incorrectly. It's used when people who don't have power resist against people who hold power. So actually the corporations would be "The Man" in your example, not the employees.

