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Seagate: Happy Xmas, staff – thanks for everyth... um, you 500. Can we have a word?

'Tis the season of glad tidings, goodwill – and job cuts

Seagate has said it will reduce its global headcount by 500 staffers, not long after its CEO praised all of its employees for continually going "above and beyond".

In a statement filed with the SEC – America's financial watchdog – yesterday afternoon, Seagate said it has "committed to an additional restructuring plan to reduce its cost structure". It will "reduce its global headcount by approximately 500 employees".

They should mostly be gone by June next year, the filing continues, allowing Seagate to save $65m a year at a restructuring cost of $50m in its fiscal 2018.

Seagate has not been doing so well. Dave Mosley became CEO in July, the same month Seagate offloaded its ClusterStor HPC array business to Cray.

In October, Seagate's first-quarter 2018 revenues sank 7 per cent year-on-year to $2.6bn. At the time Mosley said: "Seagate is in a strong position to grow its businesses, improve profitability and continue with its shareholder-return objectives."

Employees whose jobs were chopped may not be so happy that money for their salaries may now be spent on share buybacks.

They may not be pleased either that Seagate exec chairman and ex-CEO Steve Luczo was named in the most recent edition of Harvard Business Review as "one of the best-performing CEOs in the world. Luczo, who has been included on the magazine's list for the past four years, was ranked No. 28 overall" on 2017’s global list of top 100 CEOs.

Luczo's comment on his inclusion on the list? "I am honored to have been included in the list but the real heroes are our employees around the world who continually go above and beyond."

It's going to ring a little ho-ho-hollow in the ears of those who'll spend the holidays wondering if they'll be among the 500. Seagate employs approximately 45,500 worldwide. ®

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