Posted on 03/05/2015 6:17:40 AM PST by TurboZamboni
Some senior buyers are already gone. Vice presidents, too. But for 13,000 other Target Corp. employees in Minnesota, there's fear that the bull's-eye is on their backs. Target jolted the Twin Cities on Tuesday when it said "several thousand" corporate staffers will be laid off in a cost-cutting move. Executives didn't say who, when or where -- although the buzz is the ax will swing freely next week.
Since the news broke, reaction to Target's $2 billion cost-savings plan has been split, especially by street. On Wall Street, analysts mostly liked the plan. Target stock touched an all-time high Wednesday morning before slipping lower after a flurry of analysts raised price targets. "We came away positive on some of the early changes and direction the company is going," wrote Jefferies analyst Daniel Binder.
Efraim Levy, an analyst at S&P Capital IQ, upgraded Target stock to a "hold" from a "sell," but he recognized there was pain along with the gain. "Unfortunately for the employees that will be affected, it's a necessary part of the business," Levy said. "Competition doesn't stand still, and (Target executives) have to make themselves cost and operationally efficient and competitive."
But at Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, where Target has its world headquarters, morale was hardly at an all-time high. Online message boards were abuzz with worry and speculation about which departments were vulnerable, with particular venting directed at former CEO Gregg Steinhafel and Target's board of directors
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Homeless
Many years ago I started a new job at a magazine on the very day they let hundreds go, including five (5!) VPs. I honestly don’t think anyone noticed, in terms of productivity. That’s what happens when a company grows: little fiefdoms are built, and generally last well beyond their usefulness. Then someone wakes up...
I doubt managers are in the union
Where have you been? Cutting headcount to goose the stock price has been corporate strategy for decades.
Now though you cut head count to avoid paying for healthcare also.
We're not talking store employees. Headquarters people are likely salaried and had benefits long before Obamacare. They're cutting them for the same reason why corporations have been downsizing for years and years; because it looks good to the analysts, gives the appearance of reducing costs, and it bumps the stock price up. No other reasons than that.
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