WTF happened at WDC today? Looks like the grim reaper took 100+ people today.
15 replies (most recent on top)
I loved working at WD, and really liked the people I worked with. Although I'm laid off now, I hope the WD sub finds a way to prosper again.
I don't know of a single employee in favor with the directions things are going for CS. So how can management be so right when we all think they're so wrong?
CS was tasked to "Go Big!" just months ago. Instead it is going small - reduce headcount and enjoy the cash inflow. OK, you could have done that without growing 10X years go. We had great expectations that the product roadmap would expand into new exciting areas. We were all ready for it and capable. Didn't happen. Not our fault and we're seriously pissed. Our stock would've been advancing with the hints of new product categories or acquisitions. Instead - we all wait for the merger. All throughout WD's history we loved when our competitor had a merger because it screwed it up for months. So here we are. Matt Massengill I'm calling you out. In your new position you can fix this. You did great years ago and now is your time to rise and take the challenge.
what will be next?
WD's Rich Get Richer: "Stephen D Milligan , President & CEO of Western Digital Corp sold 6,239 shares on Aug 3, 2015. The Insider selling transaction was disclosed on Aug 5, 2015 to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares were sold at $86.13 per share for a total value of $537,386.94."
Hey, Steve. You gotta take $1000 of that and hold a BBQ at your house for the laid off folks. Least you can do, don't you think? It's a tax write off, and you'll still have $536k left! http://www.insidertradingreport.org/western-digital-corp-wdc-files-form-4-insider-selling-stephen-d-milligan-sells-6239-shares/655139/
"Western Digital Corp insider Michael D. Cordano sold 14,234 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.02, for a total transaction of $1,167,472.68." Pretty good day, huh Mike? http://www.topix.com/com/wdc/2015/08/western-digital-corp-insider-sells-1-167-472-68-in-stock
CEO Steve Milligan and President Jim Murphy should take $1 annual salary, no bonus, no restricted stock or options. They're already rich. The leaders should share, at least symbolically, in the pain they are inflicting on their loyal team.
This is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The market for consumer-level hd's is going under soon. Nobody's fault, nobody should be blamed. Just the normal advance of technology.
Companies and businesses (should) shrink and grow. No big deal. This has to happen. Some of us suffer as a result but we forget about the positives were there when the business was growing and WD Sub was giving more than 200% ICP. Thing change. Being part of WD for some time and now gone, I do see company will get strong. The need of storage will not go away thought it moves from the PC to SSD and the enterprise so WD needs to change and one change WD did was to acquire HGST.
Branded is WDC's retail presence. It did not have to just sell NAS and nothing else. It could have continued to be a major participant in WD's success with new product catagories. How will HGST merger rebuild this? Is this saying OC sucks as a technology incubator?
Branded is WDC's retail presence. It did not have to just sell NAS and nothing else. It could have continued to be a major participant in WD's success with new product catagories. How will HGST merger rebuild this? Is this saying OC sucks as a technology incubator?
While WD Irvine starts to fade, HGST grows... http://news.theregistrysf.com/hgsts-south-bay-initiative-implements-san-jose-campus-redevelopment/
Clean up? This is just the beginning. Hard drives are about to disappear from laptops & desktops. 1 TB of SSD now costs less than $300, and the price is dropping fast. The WD subsidiary will soon have no business. The market will all be enterprise and SSD, and that's what HGST does. Once China lets HGST and WD integrate, the WD sub is toast, IMHO.
This is no cleanup. What the heck are you saying? A >200 person group brought down to what... 40?
It was 135 people in total. The company is struggling but mostly it's cleanup operation of some too ambitious initiatives taken.
Indeed, it happened. Around 120 of top talent engineering in their content solutions group was let go a few hours earlier.
The company is struggling with low sales, plus the merger no doubt has hastened this change.