AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT CAMPBELL'S FOODS (05/30/24)

MAY 30, 2024 — RESTRUCTURING

The company announced it will cut 415 jobs as part of a major restructuring initiative, which will see the downsizing of its Jeffersonville, Indiana site and the closure of its Tualatin, Oregon site by July 2026.

JUNE 10, 2021 — IT’S ON, LAYOFFS TO BEGIN IN JULY 2021.

According to a company filing, the first layoffs are scheduled to begin in early July 2021, starting with 40 and 50 employees as certain manufacturing lines are shut down. It appears that 294 Snyder’s-Lance employees are currently targeted. Production will be shifted to other facilities.

JANUARY 19, 2021 — CAMPBELL’S TO CLOSE COLUMBUS, GEORGIA FACILITY

The company has announced its plans to close its Columbus, Georgia candy, crackers, cookies, nuts, and candy bars manufacturing facility in phases with complete closure by the 2nd quarter of 2022. The closure will impact 326 employees.

According to a company spokesperson, “Closing one of our facilities is a very difficult decision. The Columbus plant is the oldest in our manufacturing network, making it difficult to retrofit. Our Columbus team is talented and dedicated, and we are committed to assisting them through this transition.”

JULY 11, 2019 — CAMPBELL’S CANS 80 NORTH AMERICAN MANAGERS

Continuing with its restructuring activities, a Campbell’s spokesperson has announced that “Today we communicated to a small number of North American employees that their positions have been eliminated.” referring to the 80 middle- and upper-level managers who were laid off. Half the layoffs occurred in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and South the half of them located in middle and upper managers will be in the Philadelphia and the Southern New Jersey region.

In June, the company completed the divestiture of its Fresh Division with the sale of Bolthouse Farms to an affiliate of a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, Butterfly Equity.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018 — Original Post…

It appears that asset sales, cost-cutting, and restructuring is on the menu at the iconic Camden, New Jersey-based Campbell’s if New York City, New York-based hedge fund Third Point wins a proxy fight to replace the entire board of directors. Third Point’s activism is well-known and it appears that Third Point has also taken a major position in Nestlé which it believes is poorly managed and in need of drastic restructuring. 

According to published reports, Third Point’s original intent was to arrange the sale of the entire company to maximize shareholder return on investment. 

In response to activist pressures, Campbell’s has undertaken a “strategic review,” and has suggested that its desire is “to optimize its current portfolio, divest certain businesses and pay down debt, while also working to reduce costs.” 

Campbell’s interim President and CEO Keith McLoughlin said, “Campbell’s Board of Directors considered a full slate of strategic options, including optimizing the portfolio, divesting businesses, splitting the company, and pursuing a sale. The Board concluded that, at this time, the best path forward to drive shareholder value is to focus the company on two core businesses in the North American market with a proven consumer packaged goods business model. Importantly, the Board remains open and committed to evaluating all strategic options to enhance value in the future. The entire statement can be found here.

Standard corporate-speak for trying anything to boost share prices and leave the existing board and management intact. 

There is little or no doubt that change is arriving at Campbell’s and that employees should take note.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?
 

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT UNIVISION (12/03/24))

DECEMBER 3, 2024 — PARENT CORPORATION RESTRUCTURING

Univision parent company, TelevisaUnivision, has announced a restructuring that will impact hundreds of employees.

According to CEO Daniel Alegre…

Hello Team,

I am writing to inform you that we are implementing significant and necessary changes to the company this week, all aimed at strengthening our position for 2025 and beyond. Today, I am announcing a new organizational structure, which will have important implications for many of our colleagues.

These changes are designed to reinforce the four key priorities I have outlined for us going forward:

Integration and Collaboration: Working as one company in everything we do.

Content First: Everything starts with great content, and we must align our teams and strategies to continue connecting, informing, and entertaining our communities.

Solution Selling: Our partners’ needs are evolving, and we must serve them in ways no one else can in the market.

Culture: We must rebuild a growth mindset, grounded in innovation, across the entire company.

The changes include leadership adjustments in some areas and a reorganization of functions to help us achieve greater alignment, focus, and impact.

First, I want to share that Jesús Lara, our head of Local in the U.S., has decided to leave the company. In response, I have decided to reorganize the U.S. local teams. I will centralize U.S. advertising sales under the leadership of Donna Speciale, covering local and national, linear, digital, streaming, audio, and multiplatform video. This structure will ensure a single, solutions-oriented point of entry for all our U.S. advertising partners to activate and grow with our audience.

Additionally, Ignacio Meyer will now oversee U.S. Audio and Local Programming, in addition to his current role managing U.S. Linear Programming. Donna and Ignacio will communicate separately with the U.S. local teams to outline how the new structure will operate.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to Jesús Lara for his dedication, vision, and contributions to TelevisaUnivision over the past eight years. He will work closely with Donna and Ignacio to ensure a smooth transition for the teams joining their organizations.

From a content strategy perspective, I have asked José Luis Fabila to lead all our content efforts and create a newly formed Global Content Organization. José Luis will ensure that our content investments align with our company’s reach, engagement, and monetization goals, and are distributed efficiently across all platforms worldwide with the right windowing strategy. This is an exciting opportunity to elevate how we deliver world-class content to our global audiences.

Our talented Business Unit Leaders will work closely with José Luis:

Ignacio Meyer will lead our U.S. Core Business, as well as our music and audio content teams, reporting to José Luis. In addition, current U.S. Networks Programming and Marketing Teams will also be rolled into roles in the Global Content Organization. Jose Luis and Ignacio will provide further detail to these teams.

Rafael Urbina will oversee digital and streaming operations, performance marketing and CRM, focusing on driving adoption, increasing consumption, and optimizing the global user experience. Jose Luis’ content and brand marketing organization will provide VIX with content acquisition, development and production services as well as planning and creative services to support VIX marketing. Rafa and José Luis will provide further details to their respective teams.

Olek Loewenstein will continue to lead the sports business unit, collaborating with José Luis’ Global Content Organization.

These leaders will remain key members of my broader leadership team.

Finally, I want to acknowledge that workforce changes will also take place across the company this week. While these decisions are never easy, we are committed to supporting everyone through their transition.

I understand that this will be a challenging week, but I ask for your focus and resilience as we take these important steps toward a stronger and more connected future. Together, we are building a company positioned for sustained growth, innovation, and leadership.

Thank you for your trust, contributions, and commitment to our mission and goals.

Daniel

JULY 18, 2022 — 250 LAYOFFS IN RESTRUCTURING CONTENT CREATION AND DISTRIBUTION

After a period of financial difficulty, the company has announced its intentions to restructure how it creates and distributes content, including on its digital platforms. The restructuring will result in a reduction in headcount of 6 percent of its workforce, or 250 people, including 15 employees at Fusion.

According to a company spokesperson, “We operate in a fast-changing and dynamic industry and we regularly make adjustments to ensure we are nimble and best positioned to continue investing in Univision’s growth.

“As part of a broader effort to streamline operations, we eliminated a number of positions in various areas of the company. Over the next several months, we will be adding new positions to support strategic growth areas that will allow us to be better poised to serve our diverse audiences across platforms and meet the needs of our partners.”

AUGUST 4, 2018 — Original post…

New York, New York-based Univision has announced that they will be laying off 240 employees as part of a company-wide restructuring effort that will also see the divestiture of certain assets.

According to a company spokesperson, "We have concluded a company-wide strategic review aimed at reorienting our operations to ensure we are positioned to most effectively compete in an evolving media marketplace.”

“We are implementing a plan to rejuvenate and re-energize the company with a rededication to our core mission of serving the US Hispanic community. As part of this plan, we are both reducing our workforce in various divisions around the company, as well as adding resources and capabilities to strengthen our core business.

While it is extremely difficult to lose valued employees, we are confident that our actions – along with our previously-announced process to explore the sale of the Gizmodo Media Group and The Onion portfolio – will enable us to focus on and invest in our core assets, which is necessary to ensure we remain the leading and unwavering voice, advocate, and source of information for the Hispanic community."

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? GE DIGITAL RESTRUCTURING & ASSET SALE (UPDATE)

UPDATE: APRIL 12, 2019 GE DIGITAL CONTINUES RESTRUCTURING

The company has announced that it will be laying off roughly 172 employees at its two offices located in San Ramon, California.

The company was quick to add that the layoff decision was driven by normal and customary business reasons and NOT the result of a proposed plan implement a spin-off into a standalone company. Yeah Right!

A company spokesperson noted, "As we continue to evolve the GE Digital business, we are making changes that give GE Digital the best structure to speed product delivery for customers and meet market demands.” yada, yada, yada. Look for the spin-off notice in the near future and do not be surprised if layoffs continue as the new entity consolidates its divisions.

UPDATE: DECEMBER 26, 2018: GE DIGITAL SELLS 90% OF SERVICEMAX TO INVESTOR SILVER LAKE.

San Ramon, California-based GE Digital and Menlo Park, California-based technology investor Silver Lake have announced an agreement for GE Digital to sell a majority stake in ServiceMax, a leading provider of cloud-based software productivity tools for field service technicians to Silver Lake.

GE will retain a 10% equity ownership interest in ServiceMax.

For those unfamiliar with ServiceMax, the company offers scalable cloud-based field service software that manages customers, calls, and employees. There is significant competition from companies such as SalesForce and Microsoft.

According to ServiceMax CEO Scott Berg, “ServiceMax has a strong foundation of customers inside and outside the GE customer base. In Silver Lake, we have found a partner with a technology growth mindset and unique expertise in separating companies into standalone businesses. Joining the Silver Lake family will provide the investment we need in continued technology development and market expansion in areas where we have seen significant traction, such as medical devices, construction and manufacturing industries. The new company structure gives us both the flexibility to provide solutions to all industrial manufacturers and the strategic backing of GE to continue to pursue the industrial asset operator markets.”

The transaction will close in early 2019 and employees should not be surprised if Silver Lake, who has invested in and guided a number of iconic brand-name companies, implements organizational personnel changes.

It appears that the cash-strapped General Electric is returning to basics after a disastrous decade under CEO Jeffrey Immelt and implementing the legendary GE CEO Jack Welch’s prime directive to managers.

Original Post…

Boston, Massachusetts-based General Electric is continuing its restructuring and cost-cutting efforts by hiring an investment bank to auction off a portion of its San Ramon, California-based GE Digital, a signature initiative of former CEO, Jeff Immelt. 

It is unknown which assets will be sold and how many employees will be affected by the sale or discontinuance of divisions and departments.

GE apparently plans to keep certain software-based process control and monitoring products for internal use and may no longer make these software products available to external companies. There is tremendous value residing in the software library and it remains to be seen how this will be deployed in the future. For now, it is wait and watch – and, of course, plan ahead.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere ... are you now wondering, Am I Next?