Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate with Agent and Realtor® Shane O'Gorman
I originally posted this in my Eau Claire Wisconsin real estate blog.
I
saw this article today and I still
didnt see anyone post it. I really think everyone should take a look at
this. I
wonder if it has affected any Active Rain members yet? I know some of
the
employees of that company are members. Here
is the story.
October
17, 2008 1:52 PM PDT
Zillow
lays off 25 percent of staff
Posted
by Don Reisinger 3
comments
Zillow,
the online resource to find out how much
your home is worth, announced that
it has laid off 25 percent of its
workforce to prepare for what it expects will be an extremely severe
economic
environment.
"This
week we are reducing our
workforce by 25 percent, Rich Barton, Zillow's CEO said in a blog post.
"This was an incredibly painful decision for me and the leadership
team,
but, in the end, we concluded that we had no choice but to securely
batten down
the hatches as we sail into a major economic storm.
"The
unprecedented economic
events that are playing out on a global stage began in our own industry
and
have made a prolonged recession likely, in our judgment," he added.
Barton
went on to explain that
despite having a sizable cash reserve, the company is still not
profitable and
the best move for Zillow at this juncture was to reduce employee
expenses to
"emerge from the other side of the recession in a very strong position,
even if the recession lasts many years."
Barton
was quick to point that his
decision to cut staff was not the result of lackluster performance.
According
to the CEO, Zillow recorded 5.4 million unique visitors last month,
which
represented a 42 percent increase over the same period last year. And
although
that should improve its financial condition, Zillow is still losing
money each
month, which made these layoffs necessary.
Zillow
is just
the latest of many technology companies to announce layoffs
over the
past week.
Anyways
it is obvious this has been
a huge blow to the economy. Lesser known is the toll it is taking on
the
technology sector. I will post a story about some of the other areas
that have
been hard hit. It is a shame when anyone loses their job. I hope they
will all
be ok and another company will seek them out for their skills in the
Seattle
area. It would be very hard to move your whole family, especially when
you have
a house to sell first.
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