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Opera's been making quite a few notable changes lately, and now we're finding out it won't be without any repercussions to some of its staff. Earlier today, Opera CEO Lars Boilsen's confirmed to our friends over at TechCrunch that the browser's developer team is indeed downsizing, confirming previous reports about the company having to make changes as part of its recently announced WebKit adoption. Just how many Core positions will be lost in the process is still unclear, however, with Mr. Boilsen only going as far as telling TechCrunch the number of developers working on the overall project is now at "around 600." What's more, Opera's CEO says it's all part of a belief that "WebKit's good enough, to switch, and by doing that we free up a lot of resources," adding that Opera "will still have a Core team but it will be less people going forward."
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: TechCrunch
Intense semiconductor competition has already forced numerous Japanese companies to work together, and now Fujitsu has announced that it'll merge its LSI chip design and R&D divisions with Panasonic. The two companies are looking to the state-run Development Bank of Japan to fund the new venture, which comes in the wake of expected Fujitsu losses of over $1 billion this year -- forcing the company to cut 5,000 jobs and transfer 4,500 to other divisions by March 31st. Fujitsu said it's also looking to transfer a state-of-the-art LSI fabrication line in central Japan to a new foundry venture with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the world's largest chip maker. That carries on a trend in declining Japanese chip dominance, exemplified by Elpida's bankruptcy and the recent government bailout of Renesas, which itself is a merger of NEC, Hitachi and Mitsubishi's semiconductor operations.
[Image credits: Wikimedia commons]
Filed under: Misc
Via: WSJ
Source: Fujitsu
After a lot of back and forth from the rumor mill and official OnLive channels, we now have what we believe to be a far clearer view of precisely what is happening right now at OnLive headquarters in Palo Alto. We've spoken with a (now former) employee of the gaming service who ran down today's events for us. According to the account, a meeting was held at OnLive's offices at 10AM this morning, wherein the company's CEO announced a massive staff layoff -- at least 50 percent of the staff, according to our source's numbers. The layoffs come as part of across the board cuts to the company, and all those out of a job will have their key cards deactivated as of 4PM local time today. The source was understandably baffled by the abruptness of the news, along with the added blow that no severance will be offered and stock holdings are essentially worth nothing.
The move apparently comes as OnLive is being purchased by an unknown party. Those being kept on have reportedly received offer letters from the new company. Why the sudden move? The source believes it may have something to do with the company's massive operating costs, which we're told are around $5 million a month. Certainly those concerns line up with a story dug up by Kotaku highlighting the company's plans to file for Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors as a result of the company's troubled financial situation. We're still gathering information as to the nature of the buyout.
Update: According to our source, the writing wasn't on the wall at the company per se, but OnLive had reportedly been entertaining acquisition offers ahead of the news from companies including HP.
Update 2: Our source has offered up some additional information on the matter, putting the average concurrent user number for the service at 1,100 to 1,500, peaking at around 1,800 on a given day -- not exceptional by any means in the face of reported $5 million a month operating costs. The number of layoffs, meanwhile, may well be greater than originally suggested, with our source putting the number of employees staying on board at around 10 to 20 percent.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: OnLive undergoing buyout in wake of dire financials, laying off 'at least 50 percent' of staff originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It's not every day that ST-Ericsson crosses our radar twice, but in addition to reportedly signing a deal with HTC for developing low-end handset chips, the company just announced its plans for a turnaround. The message? A heavier focus on SoCs for smartphones and tablets, along with a push for even more partnerships to develop those products. While that all sounds rosy, ST-Ericsson is also ceding its application processor business -- employees, R&D and all -- to STMicroelectronics. All told, between the loss of its application processor business and other reshuffling, the company expects to shed around 1,700 jobs -- and save about $320 million annually. Those bittersweet details and more await you in the press release after the break.
Continue reading ST-Ericsson to pass off application processor business to STM, cut 1,700 jobs
ST-Ericsson to pass off application processor business to STM, cut 1,700 jobs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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