DailyTech - CNET Networks to Layoff 10% of Its Workforce

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Internet CNET Networks to Layoff 10% of Its Workforce
Sven Olsen (Blog) - March 26, 2008 3:34 PM

10 comment(s) - last by ImSpartacus.. on Mar 29 at 8:11 PM

CNET to cut its workforce by 10% according to inside sources

Earlier this month, DailyTech reported that multimedia conglomerate Ziff Davis Media was in some serious financial trouble. The company has approximately with $500M in liabilities with only $313M in assets. As a result the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

CNET bought much of Ziff Davis' property over the last few years, including the tech portal ZDNet.com. However, CNET seemed to have broken the ZD curse, reporting double digit growth and net profits since 2006.

Earlier today, CNET Networks announced internally it will lay off approximately 10% of its North American work force, or approximately 120 employees.

CNET CEO Neil Ashe sent an email out to all of its employees detailing the plan to slim up central organization, and to focus editorial staff to individuals on content creation.

Specifically, Ashe mentions that TV.com will transition into a more community-driven portal. "TV.com will put more emphasis on areas of most interest to their audience including entertainment features, breaking news, trivia competition, and polls, rather than original video programming," he writes.

Cuts are expected to take place across all of CNET's operations including CNET.com, Gamespot, News.com, TV.com, and CNET's blog networks. Employees affected received notifications today and an official announcement is said to be on the way in the coming days.

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They can cutdown even more if.....

By crystal clear on 3/27/2008 8:34:09 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
Earlier today, CNET Networks announced internally it will lay off approximately 10% of its North American work force, or approximately 120 employees.

I think CNET can cut down even more/further & become very profitable if they shift their operations (editorial/tech etc) to INDIA.

Indians do have a very command over English & have the editorial skills & abilities.

Labour costs are much cheaper in India compared to the USA.

India itself is a huge market for advertising revenues & readers in their millions.

RE: They can cutdown even more if.....

By whirabomber on 3/27/2008 9:30:03 AM , Rating: 3

To bad most of the 1st language english speaking world can't understand a word of english most Indians utter. Ever talk to Dell's non-business or HP's non-business tech support?

"Indians do have a very command over English & have the editorial skills & abilities." Dropped a word somewhere in there..

Of course, only speaking english I shouldn't really complain - at least they know another language, even if those who natively speak it can't understand it. At least they try.

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RE: They can cutdown even more if.....

By crystal clear on 3/27/2008 11:01:25 AM , Rating: 2

Yes dropped a word...good........not so good typo..

I really dont know about the tech support stuff you write about....

Maybe you are right about it.

I freguently visit India on business & read their English language newspapers (when I am there).

Just for comparison (quality of English)-
The Times of India is just as good as any other newspaper say like "The Times" in the U.K.(another destination frequently visited by me).

There are plenty of English language newspapers in India.

Yes the people have a accent thats a bit........

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RE: They can cutdown even more if.....

By crystal clear on 3/27/2008 11:17:18 AM , Rating: 2

A repost of a comment of mine a few days ago-

Which English is English as per M.S.
By crystal clear on 3/21/08, Rating: 2
By crystal clear on 3/21/2008 11:14:29 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
Windows SP1 is currently available in five languages: English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.

A puzzled Aussie who was told his language wasn’t supported for his Vista Ultimate-loaded PC.

He said: “Funny thing is, my language is English. Unless ‘English (Australian)’ is not considered English????? Have you stupid Americans limited English to the ‘English (United States)’ language pack? “What a joke. I'm switching back to Linux.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/20/vista_sp1_...

Now we have a problem-

So many versions of English....

USA,UK,Australian,Indian,etc etc

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RE: They can cutdown even more if.....

By HighWing on 3/27/2008 8:11:46 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Indians do have a very command over English & have the editorial skills & abilities.

While I would question that heavily, I really can't say too much as far as their written English goes. So I would have to agree with you that maybe they do have a good command for written English. However, I doubt that would apply to all or most(51%+) Indians that would work for the amount any company would want to pay to make it profitable. Which I'm willing to bet is why companies haven't done it already. *laughs* Seriously I'm willing to bet if they hired the same people they hire for tech support they would be missing words here and there and using the wrong words all over the place that editorial costs would be huge

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I never liked CNET's sites

By ImSpartacus on 3/26/2008 5:30:39 PM , Rating: 2

Gamespot has had plenty of problems (kane and lynch?) and is overall an average game site.

CNET is an odd duck. They have such a huge range of products reviewed, but none of them are really reviewed exceptionally well (atl eats they don't hand out high scores like gamespot).

I've seen some pretty poor 'pros' and 'cons' on their component reviews. Like an old AVADirect PC that had a con for putting the Corsair HX620 (nice PSU) in their test build becuase it wasn't a strong enough PSU. The reviewer (whom I spoke to about this) wrote that they should've submitted a 700 watt PSU from OCZ (another great option) for $4-5 more.

I argued that it didn't matter (both PSU's were reliable) because a customer could make the decision for themselves. The review should'nt totally be on the submitted product, but on the possible builds that could come from the single model (which are a ton from those AVAdirect PC's).

And then a while before that when the original C2D desktops came out CNET praised the E6700 as the best price/performance model when the E6600 was the obvious winner (not my opinion, but an overall consensus across other reivews I see and the E6600's popularity.

So I have come to the conclusion that CNET is reaching out too far without solid knowledge on every single topic they try to manage. It's a valient effort, but they need to downsize.

RE: I never liked CNET's sites

By mmntech on 3/26/2008 7:51:38 PM , Rating: 2

Gamespot is just awful. The Ratchet and Clank Future debacle is another example though since they rated it far lower than every other review site. What that tells me is they're not getting the right people to review the games.

The difference between CNET and sites like Anandtech et al is the latter targets enthusiasts while CNET is targeting the average Joe. Their reviews are ok when it comes to buying consumer electronics. I like reading some of their blogs too but you're right, they're too big. It just goes to show that people cannot and should not rely on a single source for their information.

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RE: I never liked CNET's sites

By ImSpartacus on 3/29/2008 8:11:22 PM , Rating: 2

I still think it was funny how they flaunted the E6700 as the best price performance chip when the E6600 was a no brainer. They obviously had a well qualified reviewer at the helm...

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