Adobe slips good-bye note to 10% of stafff

Tough times at top employer

Adobe Systems, reckoned to be one of the best US employers to work for by business suck-up mag Fortune, is cutting 10 per cent of its staff.

The company said Tuesday that it's eliminating 680 of its just-over 7,000-strong workforce as part of a restructuring, which will cost between $65.0 and $71.0 million. Employee severance will cost Adobe the greater part of that, between $48.0 and $52.0m.

Adobe's cuts and restructuring are not connected with the $1.8bn purchase of online analytics and consultant specialist Omniture announced last month, it said.

The cuts come as Adobe said last month that it expects to announce fourth-quarter revenues sharply down from last years' record high and more or less flat compared to the recent third quarter.

Next month, Adobe is expected to announce revenue numbers that are down between 19 and 24 per cent compared to last year's $915m. In the third quarter, Adobe announced revenue of $697.5m, also down significantly from the previous year. Adobe's fourth quarter is expected to close November 28. Reading between the lines, you can bet Adobe came in at the low end of its expectations. ®