Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 24, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
One reason for the wave of layoffs at Autodesk is a negative financial trend. According to a report by Jon Peddie on his GraphicSpeak portal, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass said during the conversation there that the month of "July was a complete disaster." Net income in the second quarter was 64.4 million dollars, a full nine percent less than the previous year’s 71.2 million dollars.
According to reports, Autodesk therefore intends to eliminate 520 positions worldwide during a restructuring phase away from traditional software installed on individual computers and toward mobile and Internet-based software. However, the company intends to hire a similar number of new employees over the next twelve months, with the goal that Mobile and Cloud will make up a large share of the company in the future.
Bass also said that the company will take a "thoughtful approach" to cutting expenses during the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on January 31, 2013. In stages, this will include layoffs, reducing contractors, cutting non-business-critical travel, and other ways of eliminating non-essential expenses.
