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Maxtor announces poor outlook on sales and volume as well as a 900 person job cut in Singapore

Despite growth in the storage industry, jobs and locations will always be expendable -- this is just the nature of business. Maxtor announced that it will be cutting roughly 900 jobs in its Singapore location. The company blames the job cuts on net losses amounting up to $104 million over the last fiscal year.

According to a Reuters report, Maxtor had been experiencing slower hard disk shipments and lower volume in general for its range of products. The company also told reporters that costs associated with mergers affected its bottom line. The report claims:

During the first quarter, Maxtor experienced lower than expected unit volume growth, largely attributable to the pending acquisition. This lower than expected unit growth, combined with marginal merger-related market share losses, placed increased pressure on the company's already burdened cost structure and constrained Maxtor's ability to compete, especially on the low-end of the desktop drive market.

Maxtor also mentions that the job cuts are also to prepare for the completion of Seagate's acquisition, which is already taking place. After the merger is complete, Seagate will become the world's largest manufacturer of computer hard disks. We previously reported that Seagate was opening a new facility in Singapore and was preparing to hire 2000 new R&D employees. Interestingly, other forms of storage are on the rise, including the growingly popular NAND flash memory technology. SanDisk and Toshiba recently announced a joint project to build a massive NAND flash manufacturing facility in Japan.

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Wow
By Icepick on 4/7/2006 8:19:11 AM , Rating: 2
You mean to tell me they're actually cutting jobs elsewhere than mainland United States? Please excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor.




RE: Wow
By jskirwin on 4/7/2006 10:20:32 AM , Rating: 2
I had the same feeling.
I guess when you've offshored everything but the board and the janitorial staff that clean up after them, you have to cut abroad.

Let see, 900 jobs in Singapore... That will save them... what: $18? That's a day's worth of latte for the Boss.


You have no clue!!
By Madellga on 4/7/2006 11:52:21 AM , Rating: 2
Ha, typical american who doesn't know anything outside USA.

You need some Geography lessons....Do not put Singapore in the same bag as China or India.

Singapore is like Switzerland in Asia. It is a very developed country, a hub for sea transport and a busy airport for connections to other places. It is not a cheap place either.

Not a surprise for me that Seagate is axing jobs there...

PS: I'm not from Singapore.....


RE: You have no clue!!
By masher2 (blog) on 4/7/2006 1:02:00 PM , Rating: 1
> "Ha, typical american who doesn't know anything outside USA..."

So you counter his stereotype with an even larger one of your own? You might want to reconsider your debating tactics.

Your statements about Singapore are correct. It's a very modern nation with one of the highest standards of living in SE Asia. Still, though, they're considerably below US levels.


RE: You have no clue!!
By Madellga on 4/7/2006 3:01:44 PM , Rating: 2
Sorry, I know there are a lot of smart people in there. MIT, NASA are located in USA ;)

But most Americans I know (I work in an "American environment") do not speak a second language and know very little about other countries. Not very interested in doing that also, even if given the chance.

Yes, Singapore is not at US levels, but is not at the 18 bucks the previous poster (18 bucks) said.




RE: You have no clue!!
By masher2 (blog) on 4/7/2006 3:37:51 PM , Rating: 2
> "most Americans I know (I work in an "American environment") do not speak a second language..."

For better or worse, English is the lingua franca of the modern world. Personally, I think that will ultimately be a positive force for the planet.



RE: You have no clue!!
By fsardis on 4/7/2006 4:24:11 PM , Rating: 1
GREAT! so because yanks speak english they cant be bothered learning geography and any other language. I mean why waste your time learning about other cultures and braodening your mind?

what a redneck!


RE: You have no clue!!
By jskirwin on 4/7/2006 4:25:43 PM , Rating: 3
And non-Americans have no sense of humor...


RE: You have no clue!!
By 9748904947 on 4/7/2006 4:24:14 PM , Rating: 1
> "Ha, typical american who doesn't know anything outside USA..."

Actually, I'd wager that his "steroptype" is pretty accurate.

Given that the majority of the American people elected a lying idiot who had never been anywhere outside of America, it looks like his 'debating tactics' are quite grounded in reality.

What you guys have allowed America to become, really says a lot about who you guys are today.


RE: You have no clue!!
By fsardis on 4/7/2006 5:50:58 PM , Rating: 1
we are both wasting our breath man. i mean come on, if you live outside america you know how disliked they are. you see how they jump in every opportunity to promote their country as if they got something to proove. They got a serious inferiority complex thats for sure. And i mean what do you expect from those guys? take a look a few centuries back and you will see what america is. All the social outcasts of europe, the prisoners, the religion fanatics, beggars and every other type of scum went to america to find a better land. who did you expect to go to america? the wealthy and well established? only those who had nothing to lose too the chance for a trip to the new land back then.

so what do you expect from a country with this history? they got power now, but its power that others created for them. they never fought hard for power. they are on their own, in their land. they have never seen enemy troops march in their cities, they have never seen enemy planes bomb their capitals. super power of the couch.


RE: You have no clue!!
By TomZ on 4/7/2006 6:41:33 PM , Rating: 2
Speaking of history, please let us know what countries you feel exist today that do not have serious past and/or present problems. Every country that I can think of, except for small culturally isolated ones, have past and/or present problems, and serious ones at that.

Please let us know where you live, so that we can give you our jugement, views, and comments, as you have given of America. Probably you must be living in the perfect country to have such a superior attitude. I didn't realize such a place existed, but I sure would like to learn about it.


RE: You have no clue!!
By breethon on 4/7/2006 7:21:44 PM , Rating: 2
YOU HAVE NO CLUE! See below for invasions of American SOIL:

American Revolution british soldiers
WAR of 1812 Anglo Canadian forces
1916 Pancho Villa (a Mexican bandit)


So there you go, three instances of enemy raids on American Cities. And by the way, the capital wasn't bombed by the british when they came over, but they sure burned the crap out of it. Why not keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt?

Proud to be an American.


RE: You have no clue!!
By breethon on 4/7/2006 7:23:17 PM , Rating: 2
What does this have to do with MAXTOR or SEAGATE anyways?
LOL.


RE: You have no clue!!
By jskirwin on 4/7/2006 11:00:44 PM , Rating: 2
What my original comment had to do with was the mentality of corporate leadership that pays itself excessively then sees fit to cut 900 jobs. Since they've offshored much of their workforce, the cuts they get less from each job they cut.

Meanwhile Chinese firms, which not only have a lower cost workforce ALSO have a lower cost management then enter their market and drive them out of business.

All I can say is "Buh-bye"! Poor management and corporate greed have killed American IT.

I say: Welcome to our Communist Chinese Overlords!*

*That's a cynical joke to the non-American audience.


RE: You have no clue!!
By masher2 (blog) on 4/7/2006 11:35:05 PM , Rating: 2
> "you see how they jump in every opportunity to promote their country as if they got something to proove"

As opposed to someone like you, who spends the majority of every post in knocking the US? I think its clear who has the inferiority complex here.

> "...the prisoners, the religion fanatics, beggars and every other type of scum...who did you expect to go to america? the wealthy and well established?"

And yet today, 8 of the 10 richest people in the world are from the US, despite their originating from "scum and beggars" a scant century or two earlier. When you understand how this miracle occurred, you'll understand America a bit better.

By the way, from which nation do you originate? You've suspiciously avoided that question.

> "they have never seen enemy troops march in their cities..."

Well, except for that bit about the White House being burned down by enemy troops.


RE: You have no clue!!
By fsardis on 4/8/2006 8:14:30 AM , Rating: 1
i knock on the US simply because you keep promoting it. other than that i dont spend my life talking about rednecks and their farm country.

today rich people live in the US. No argument there. Also today you got some good scientific research centres etc etc. However your scientists and rich people are in the majority immigrants. they are not Americans from the time America was first colonised. They are immigrants that have been to the american country for only 2 or 3 generations. So no, they are not yanks.

you have seen soldiers march in your cities eh? you think i didnt know those examples? i did but their severity is not even close to what many european countries have experienced. You never participated in a grueling war in your own soil. You have never been occipied by enemy forces. you have never revolted against oppressors. You cannot compare your war experience with the war experience of many other countries.

Me from a perfect country? Of course not. how can there be a perfect country? I dont see how you have not figured out I am european. so now you know.


RE: You have no clue!!
By masher2 (blog) on 4/8/2006 10:54:12 AM , Rating: 2
> "However your scientists and rich people are in the majority immigrants..."

How do you manage to be so consistently wrong on every point? Of the 10 richest people in the world, eight live in the US. All eight of them come from families here more than "two or three generations". Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Paul Allen, and the entire Walton family-- in all case, they, their US roots go back over 100 years.
I'm not sure about Larry Ellison, but he goes back at least three generations.

> "So no, they are not yanks..."

The wonderful thing about America is that-- as soon as an immigrant becomes a citizen-- they're "a yank". It's the melting pot that you, in an earlier post, called "a big mess".

It's also the reason America has avoided the balkanization and ethnic riots that plague Europe.

> "you have seen soldiers march in your cities eh? you think i didnt know those examples?"

Yes I think you didn't...why else would you claim it had never happened? Do you enjoy embarrassing yourself?

> "you have never revolted against oppressors..."

You mean, except for that little revolt against the British?

> "You cannot compare your war experience with the war experience of many other countries...."

We prefer to prevent wars before they strike us. An example Europe should have learned from Hitler.

And if that means we don't get to sit around and jaw about "the good old days" when enemy forces burned our cities, so be it.

> "I dont see how you have not figured out I am european"

Oh we figured that out long ago. The only question is which specific nation.


RE: You have no clue!!
By fsardis on 4/8/2006 2:41:36 PM , Rating: 1
this is why i laugh at you americans. cause you have no idea what you are talking about and you can make the most obvious mistakes. those families have been in the US for morre than 100 years you say. well since your country is merely 400+ years old you take 100 years as a long time. actually 100 years is aproximately 3 generations so yea i was right. you were wrong.

as for the other things you say about america, i got no comment. you are just stipping yourself of all dignity in the eyes of europeans. just so you know, your country cannot be compared to europe for the same reason you cannot compare a child to an adult in terms of life experience.

now, the examples you give about occupations and wars in your country are not even close to severity as those experienced by european nations. In our eyes you have been though nothing. in your eyes (cause you have not seen the worse) it appears as a big deal.

you mentioned the white house was burnt at some point. i had a canadian friend telling me about this story. so it was a wooden construction and they burn it. the yanks paint it white to hide the burn marks and thus white house was born. you gotta be so proud of it! The Acropolis is nothing compared to it eh?

sorry if its hard for you, but thats the way of the world. America is a spoiled boy with dangerous toys.

which specific nation i am from? which specific state are you from? why does it matter?


RE: You have no clue!!
By masher2 (blog) on 4/8/2006 4:42:10 PM , Rating: 3
> "actually 100 years is aproximately 3 generations so yea i was right. you were wrong."

Err, no. A generation is a generation. If your great-grandparents were US residents, you've been here four generations. In the case of the richest US citizens, their grandparents were all born here, so their great-parents were all US residents. Four generations. At least...some very likely much longer.

You claimed they'd only been here "only 2 or 3" generations. I demonstrated otherwise. Why not grow a spine and admit you're wrong? It'd be a lot less embarrassing in the long run.

> "the examples you give about occupations and wars in your country are not even close to severity as those experienced by european nations"

I find it truly amazing that anyone in this modern age can boast about all the "severe wars" they've had. I got news for you buddy-- its not something to be proud of.

In any case, I doubt you personally were slogging through the mud with a rifle in any of them., nor would you chose to do so, even if given the chance.

> "which specific nation i am from? ...why does it matter?"

Because its extremely revealing you've devoted so many posts to knocking the US, but don't even have enough pride in your own nationality to own up to it.




RE: You have no clue!!
By sxr7171 on 4/8/2006 11:04:17 AM , Rating: 2
Then why you do perpetuate the stereotype?

Singapore has a per capita GDP (PPP) of $29,900! Unemployment of 3.3%.

Standard of living considerably below those in the US? Please.

Their Per Capita GDP (PPP) rivals that of Japan which is $30,700. So this would mean Japan's standard of living is "considerably below US levels."

BTW, I'm not from there either. But I've visited, and it is a very nice place.


RE: You have no clue!!
By masher2 (blog) on 4/8/2006 11:37:44 AM , Rating: 2
> "Their Per Capita GDP (PPP) rivals that of Japan..."

Per capita GDP is a simple division of GDP by population...a better indicator of standard of living is median household income. The last year the Singapore department of statistics compiled that figure was 2000, and the figure was $26000 USD per annum. That's extremely high for SE Asia, but only 60% of the US value for that year.

In any case, what I meant in my original post was that Singapore's standard of living is quite high, but that salaries there are considerably lower than the US. Especially those salaries that Seagate requires to build hard drives.

> "But I've visited, and it is a very nice place. "

Yes it is. I've been there twice myself.




RE: You have no clue!!
By sxr7171 on 4/8/2006 8:02:08 PM , Rating: 2
You're an economist or something right? You should quit while you're ahead, because you never know if the person you are replying to actually has knowledge (or a degree)in a subject.


Per Capita GDP is not a perfect measure of standard of living, but it is used for the purpose - NOT median household income. Different ways of measuring the standard of living use the Per Capita GDP as a baseline and apply correction using other subjective factors (like average height of 12 year olds, or disease rates etc.). Median household income first of all varies depending on average household size, and then does not take into consideration public works and programs that increase the standard of living in a nation.

So don't tell me you consider median household income a better measure of standard of living, unless you want to start your own school of economic thought.

If you meant to state that salaries are lower in Singapore then state exactly that, don't go rambling on about standard of living.


RE: You have no clue!!
By masher2 (blog) on 4/9/2006 10:22:53 PM , Rating: 2
> "So don't tell me you consider median household income a better measure of standard of living, unless you want to start your own school of economic thought."

Median income isn't nearly as rare of a standard of living metric as you make it sound. For instance, here's a link the the NZ Goverment statistics site, where they use median income in place of per-capita GDP:

http://www.stats.govt.nz/urban-rural-profiles/main...

And here's a NY Times article on US standards of living. Median income is mentioned three times-- per capita GDP none at all:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/business/yourmon...

GDP per capita is the simplest and most used. However, its by no means the most accurate...especially when used in an nonadjusted fashion, in a nation such as Singapore where wealth is distributed unevenly (its Gini Index often flirts with the 50 range).

Furthermore, there are many situations where BOTH indicators are considered faulty, and other methods may be used. There is no one magic talisman for determining standard of living.

To bring this back on topic, both "your" metric and "mine" place Singapore considerably below the US in standard of living. So I'm not sure what you're quibbling about.


RE: You have no clue!!
By sxr7171 on 4/12/2006 3:23:29 AM , Rating: 2
Buddy, if you really took economics you would know that using median income is only valid within regions of same nation. You cannot compare the standards of living between two nations using median income. Think about why this is, instead of quoting something you really don't understand.

BTW, that NYTimes article mentions productivity growth. Guess what that is.

Tell me where wealth is distributed evenly. It may be better in the US than most countries, but overall a nation's standard of living includes everyone. If you want to compare middle class to middle class then the difference may be more pronounced.

Overall wealth creation over in Singapore is one of the highest in the world given it's population.


RE: You have no clue!!
By Locutus465 on 4/7/2006 2:45:51 PM , Rating: 2
Hmmm, well... It would appear as if this how things break down

Average Salary:
Sigapore: $25,081 bonus $4420
USA: $36,764 bonus ??

Looks like you have more to gain cutting in the usa by a decent margine


RE: You have no clue!!
By TomZ on 4/7/2006 4:13:10 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Looks like you have more to gain cutting in the usa by a decent margine

Also proves that a lot of cost can be saved by cutting jobs in Singapore.


RE: Wow
By TomZ on 4/7/2006 2:00:29 PM , Rating: 2
Cutting jobs is the same all over the world. Businesses have to cut costs regardless of the geographic region. For the employee, the impact is the basically the same regardless of where you live.


Will Seagate phase out Maxtor as a brand?
By Nocturnal on 4/7/2006 6:05:36 AM , Rating: 2
Will they phase out Maxtor as a brand like Maxtor did to Quantum when they aquired Quantum?

I mean they're both relatively great brands but.......




RE: Will Seagate phase out Maxtor as a brand?
By d33pblue on 4/7/2006 8:23:37 AM , Rating: 2
I wouldnt think so... the Maxtor brand is worth *something* in the market place and for that reason I dont think Seagate would ditch it. What they could do is position their drives as premium drives and position Maxtor drives as "budget" (perhaps merging some of Maxtor's high end offerings with their own).

Or they might just pull an auto-industry merger on us and sell both brands side by side like nothing happened. My guess is that either way, in the short term, the only difference were likely to notice is the quality of Maxtor drives go up.


RE: Will Seagate phase out Maxtor as a brand?
By Icepick on 4/7/2006 8:45:26 AM , Rating: 2
I disagree. Seagate has nothing to gain by continuing to sell hardware under the Maxtor brand. Maxtor is not known for quality and it's reputation has suffered in the last few years due to a sub-par reliability record of it's products. In my opinion, the best hard drives are Seagate, Samsung, Western Digital, Maxtor. Take a look around at the forums at these hardware review sites. Maxtor is seldom, if ever, recommended to buyers in favor of the other brands. Is that the result of fanboyism? Maybe to a very small degree. However, this has been a trend over the last several years so a big part of this is most likely due to a groundswell of users who have had less than stellar experiences with the product. I believe that Seagate will most likely phase out the brand.


RE: Will Seagate phase out Maxtor as a brand?
By marvdmartian on 4/7/2006 8:54:17 AM , Rating: 2
Agreed. I've seen a few killer deals on Maxtor hard drives recently, but the 1 year warranty, combined with some trepidation over whether Seagate will cover the Maxtor drives that fail (as I'm sure the majority of people might feel), has made me pass on those deals.

The only thing I'm personally worried about is that Seagate, now that they'll own the majority of the market, will find an excuse to stop giving the good deals they've had on hard drives, and consider their drives to be premium, thus killing any deals for them.


By TomZ on 4/7/2006 1:24:51 PM , Rating: 2
I wouldn't worry too much about that. WDC is still a pretty strong competitor for Seagate.


RE: Will Seagate phase out Maxtor as a brand?
By Exodus220 on 4/7/2006 1:27:45 PM , Rating: 2
I have always used Maxtor drives in the past but was never fully satisfied with them. It was a big decision to go with a different brand when building my newest computer and I have been incredibly happy with my new Hitachi SATA 3.0 drive. So it surprises me that you left out that brand...but perhaps I am just being lead astray again by buying the lower quality brand again...


By INeedCache on 4/7/2006 8:39:15 PM , Rating: 2
I think Seagate will keep the Maxtor brand. Just by purchasing Maxtor most of those who follow these sorts of things are already thinking Maxtor's quality will get better. Some have never left Maxtor and they continue to be the favorite brand of some. So I suspect Maxtor drives will continue to be sold, and as their quality gets better, so will their sales. I just don't see any big upside to Seagate getting rid of the Maxtor label. But, we'll all find out for sure in the near future.


By sxr7171 on 4/8/2006 10:48:37 AM , Rating: 2
Have you been to Storagereview? I've seen a Maxtor on the leaderboard a few times. I don't trust the other sites with respect to HDD reviews, because Storagereview has the most experience and knowledge of testing HDDs.


You guys have no freaking clue.
By PandaBear on 4/8/2006 3:06:30 AM , Rating: 2
I work for one of the hard drive company, so I think what I can say about the Seagate Maxtor merger will probably be more accurate than those non-sense made here (like saving $18 over 900 layoff in Singapore, or only Janitors are in Maxtor/Seagate's US site).

1) Maxtor layoff in Singapore is because they outsource their manufacturing to China. Most of the people they cut are manufacturing or QA related, replaced by their China facility.

2) Maxtor's quality, while not as good as Seagate in the last generation, is mostly due to a couple product line specific issue. One being lube contamination on their media and the other being head patrol seek and fly height control. Both are resolved in Diamond Max 10 and Maxline III generation.

3) Seagate is buying the whole Maxtor, and they are honoring their warranty (both OEM and retail). What they want to do as far as I know, is to keep Maxtor's product line until the development is mature so either a) Seagate convert sufficient manufacturing capacity from Maxtor's plant to Seagate or b) keep Maxtor design long enought so the OEM who qualified for Maxtor but not Seagate will not jump ship to WD or Hitachi. Big OEM don't just buy today's special when they buy hard drives in the millions. They ask the vendor to setup a 1000 or so test setup and run time 1000 or so hours, and make sure less than x percent of them died at the end. They also make special request to manufacture specific commands or SMART features that they use for in-house diagnostic, so not everyone can qualify every time. I know there is one OEM that Seagate cannot qualify but Maxtor can, and Seagate is not killing Maxtor to keep the customer from getting all their drives from WD, Hitachi, and Samsung.

4) The industrial observation on Seagate's quality is that they are not the best, but they have the lowest cost because they make everything themselves (Head, ASIC, Motor, Preamp, Channel, Media, etc) while Maxtor is the only big drive maker (other than Samsung) that doesn't have their own head and have to pay a heavy fee to buy them. This allow Seagate to run over everyone else in the industry.




Continue
By PandaBear on 4/8/2006 3:14:46 AM , Rating: 2
5) Hard drive's engineering staff for the big 4 (Seagate, Maxtor, WDC, and Hitachi) are still mostly in the US. Because most of these engineers have been in the industry for over 16 years and you just can't find enough people knowing how to do it oversea. Seagate have a singapore team doing their microdrive, and Samsung have their Korean team, and that's about it. Even Fujitsu and Toshiba are R&D in the US.

6) Why Maxtor sell itself to Seagate: the management f---ed up for way too long. Every time they are almost done with a good design, they killed it before they start manufacturing it. They were almost done with a 2.5" laptop drive, they kill it at the beginning of 2005 right before they start manufacturing it. They then jump into microdrive and then cancel their project when they are half way there at the end of 2005, and jump back into 2.5". The same goes for many development that were scraped half way down the road and they end up being late to market for many generations of product. Instead of selling the same drives for $140 as the high end, they have to sell it for $70 after rebate as the low end because they are too late to the market.





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