Snap Inc. laid off five employees as part of a restructuring of its research group this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The five employees were part of a team led by Bobby Murphy, Snap's co-founder, chief technology officer, and second largest individual shareholder.
Snap also recently asked managers to institute a so-called "performance improvement plan" (PIP) for employees who are classified as low performers, the people said. Being put on a PIP means that affected employees have a limited amount of time to improve their work before they are fired, and people familiar with the plan at Snap say it will likely lead to further attrition in the company's ranks throughout 2019.
A Snap spokesman confirmed the five layoffs and PIP plans when contacted by Cheddar on Thursday. The spokesman added that Snap also initiated a PIP plan for employees in 2018.
The cuts to the research group, which numbers less than 40 employees, come after Snap's director of research, David Salesin, left the company in December 2018. Instead of managing Snap's hundreds of engineers, Murphy oversees the small research group and a couple of other teams that total less than 80 employees.
Murphy's research group works on more futuristic endeavours, such as augmented reality. The company's much larger engineering workforce is led by former Amazon executive Jerry Hunter, who joined Snap in late 2016.
Snap's stock soared earlier this week on better than expected earnings. But the company has yet to turn a profit. CEO Evan Spiegel has said he wants Snap to reach profitability in 2019.
Snap had 2,884 employees as of December 31, 2018, according to a recent filing with the SEC. The company shed more than 200 hundred employees globally last year through multiple rounds of layoffs.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
