Adobe to lay off hundreds of workers (750)

Mercury News ^ | November 8th 2011 | Jeremy C. Owens

[Cardhu]

Despite predicting record-setting revenue for the current quarter, San Jose software company Adobe (ADBE) announced Tuesday that it will lay off up to 7.5 percent of its workforce.

Adobe is making a push for greater control of the digital media and marketing sectors, a decision that "will result in the elimination of approximately 750 full-time positions primarily in North America and Europe," the company said in a news release. Adobe reported at the end of its last quarter that it employed 10,040 people.

In an email, Adobe spokeswoman Jodi Sorensen declined to state how many employees will be laid off as opposed to eliminating open positions. She also would not say what divisions of the company would be targeted for layoffs nor how many of the layoffs will come from Adobe's San Jose headquarters.

"These reductions span our business units and geographies, and they reflect our shifts in investment toward the high-growth Digital Media and Digital Marketing categories as a result of priority changes and reduction in some projects," she wrote.

The move will cost the company $87 million to $94 million, with $70 million to $75 million going to employees as severance payments, Adobe reported.

Adobe stuck to its previous guidance for fourth-quarter revenue, which it said will be a record-setting $1.075 billion to $1.125 billion.

[af_vet_rr]

As for Adobe, you’d think that a company with the literal industry standards for drawing and image editing would tighten belts, and return their focus to core competencies, but I guess not. What a shame.

I don't know what it is about Adobe's culture, but it seems like they try and fix things long after it's clear there is a problem. Flash should never have gotten as bad as it did, and it seems like they didn't have a long term strategy for some of their products. It's a weird company. They are extremely lucky that other companies haven't come along and hurt their market share too much.

[GeronL]

I wish my Adobe programs would stay updated so I wouldn’t have to do it on a daily basis.

[Eyes Unclouded]

Never did much care for the term human “resources”.

Things run smoother, although not without problems, in places that have personnel departments or small firms that just have partnerships amongst employees.

[Cronos]

of course not — that’s where the development is hapening.

[Cronos]

you work for adobe?

[Don W]

ARRGH, Adobe!!

[Cardhu]

It seems that is a common complaint - I always refuse to update

[AFreeBird]

Apparently, Adobe is throwing in the towel on mobile Flash. Conceding that Steve Jobs was right.

They’re going to work on HTML5 tools.

[eyedigress]

I do not, I am in the energy management sector.