Quote:
Originally Posted by tigger
Without profits there is no payroll. Without payroll there is no job.
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Not true. Profits come after expenses (including payroll and benefits).
Without profits, there are no shareholder dividends. With lower than expected profits, stock prices go down as all of the short term investers sell. Corps then respond to the declining stock price; layoffs (aka reducing "administrative expense") is something that short term investors like to hear... for some reason.
My company is in this state right now. After several record setting years in a row, the company had a "bad" year last year. The company is still making tons of profit... just not as much as had been projected. The stock price fell. 1500 jobs were cut. That didn't get the bump needed, so more layoffs are coming.
Our clear #1 goal is a high stock price; everything else, including quality, is secondary.
When companies report actual losses or forecast losses, I completely (unfortunately) understand the need for layoffs. In this economy, that's happening too. If you don't respond, you go out of business. That's happening too.
Just my opinion. Off my soapbox as well...
Bruce