| 0 |
The ‘Great Unwinding’ hits start-ups |
| 1 |
Layoffs have hit many corners of the corporate world. And they’ve pummeled start-ups — which are often pushed to grow fast or die — with particular ferocity, the NYT’s Erin Griffith reports. |
| 2 |
More than 50 start-ups have cut or furloughed roughly 6,000 employees in recent weeks, by Erin’s count. Few sectors seem immune, with travel companies like Vacasa, retailers like Everlane and hiring services like ZipRecruiter resorting to layoffs. Bigger companies aren’t immune either: Airbnb has suspended hiring and frozen $800 million worth of marketing. |
| 3 |
The scooter start-up Bird laid off a third of its work force remotely, drawing huge amounts of scorn. Dot.LA takes a deep dive into how the company dismissed 406 employees via a two-minute Zoom webinar, which one employee likened to an episode of “Black Mirror,” the dystopian sci-fi show: |
| 4 |
After five minutes of dead air that seemed like an eternity, a robotic-sounding, disembodied voice came on the line. The woman began by acknowledging, “This is a suboptimal way to deliver this message.” Then she cut to the chase: “Covid-19 has also had a massive impact on our business, one that has forced our leadership team and our board of directors to make extremely difficult and painful decisions. One of those decisions is to eliminate a number of roles at the company. Unfortunately, your role is impacted by this decision.”
|
| 5 |
The start-up survival guide looks like this, Erin reports: “Cut spending, lower prices on products, renegotiate fixed costs for things like leases and ask the government for assistance for the fitness studios, home rental operators or gig workers they rely on.” |
| 6 |
But it’s not all bad news: Some start-ups can still get funding, especially if their business is linked to remote working or other activities getting a boost during the lockdown. Among them is Notion, a maker of collaboration software that recently raised $50 million at a $2 billion valuation. The deal was pitched and closed in 36 hours. |
| 7 |
____________________________ |
| 8 |
Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in Connecticut and Michael J. de la Merced and Jason Karaian in London. |
| 9 |
____________________________ |
| 10 |
 |
| 11 |
Waiting to apply for unemployment benefits in Fayetteville, Ark. J.T. Wampler/The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, via Associated Press |
| 12 |
The unemployment lines are growing fast |
| 13 |
The first indications of the scale of the U.S. economic downturn have come via weekly jobless claims. Last week’s blockbuster number, 3.3 million initial claims, could be topped by data due today. |
| 14 |
Some analysts think weekly jobless claims could rise well above five million, the NYT’s Quoctrung Bui reports. A team of academics, taking a cue from Google search volume for “file for unemployment,” thinks this week’s number will come in at 5.6 million. Analysts at Goldman Sachs recently raised their forecast to six million new claims. |
| 15 |
• If these prove true, it means that as many people will have filed for unemployment in the past two weeks as in the first six months of the previous recession. |
| 16 |
• The A.P. reports that employers are trying to maintain ties with workers they have laid off, so that they can rehire them when conditions improve. But the longer the outbreak lasts, the more difficult this will be. |
| 17 |
 |
| 18 |
A Ford plant in Dearborn, Mich., in 2018. Carlos Osorio/Associated Press |
| 19 |
Four million missing cars |
| 20 |
Most auto factories in the West are sitting idle — at least those that aren’t making ventilators. |
| 21 |
The shutdowns will result in at least four million fewer cars being produced in the first half of this year, according to Oxford Economics. The consultancy forecasts that global auto production will fall around 10 percent this year, making it the hardest-hit sector in the manufacturing industry. |
| 22 |
Some automakers aim to restart their U.S. plants in mid-April, although these plans are tentative and a few major players, like Ford and G.M., haven’t committed to a particular date. (Or, in Ford’s case, set a date and then scrapped it.) A sharp drop in March auto sales, with few signs of improvement in April, means that production could remain low even after more workers are allowed to return to plants. |
