Microsoft cancels company picnic – times really must be hard
Microsoft, like every other company large or small, has suffered at the hands of the recession. After posting poor financial results for the last quarter, it is still eager to cut costs. But where? How about canceling the annual company picnic? Yogi Bear will be pleased.
Microsoft usually holds a huge company picnic for all its workers based in the Puget Sound area. How huge? Around 41,000 employees live in the area, add in their families, and it’s fair to say huge is an understatement of epic proportions.
Thursday saw Microsoft announce its third quarter earnings report. Although the news was mixed, it was generally bad. The worst news was that Microsoft posted its first ever year-on-year decline in revenue since it went public in 1986.
This last quarter has seen Microsoft cutting staff, with 5,000 layoffs being its biggest ever cull. In this respect it’s doing the same thing as every other company – tightening its belt in order to safely navigate the uncharted waters of the current global economic crisis. But it gets worse.
Microsoft has now announced that it has canceled this year’s annual company picnic in Washington due to the event becoming a “growing logistical challenge.” I’m sure the cost savings have also played a part in this decision as well. Regardless, you know times really must be hard when a company picnic is canceled.
Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos told CNET:
It becomes a bigger and bigger issue every year. We’ll look to investigate ways we can have something to bring folks together, but not in the way we have in the past.
Why should you and I care about? After all, we’re not directly affected. No, but the fact Microsoft has cut an event which has been held for years proves it’s watching the pennies in these tough time. If Microsoft is doing so, despite being one of the largest companies in the world and still highly profitable, what does it mean for the rest of us?
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April 26th, 2009
What? No more Microsoft Bob plastic cups, Clippy napkins and Vista install disc Frisbee toss?…things will never be the same…sniff.
April 30th, 2009
“It becomes a bigger and bigger issue every year.”
LOL – Microsoft can’t even stage a picnic without introducing unmanageable bloat into each successive iteration.
“[...] what does it mean for the rest of us?”
It’s another indication that the end is nigh for Microsoft’s hegemony, and is thus a very positive sign.
July 24th, 2009
Google WA had its company picnic at Mountain Meadows Farm. It was far, far better than than any of the ~10 MS picnics I’ve seen (basically due to the crowding factor, about 10 times less people