AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT CRESTONE PEAK RESOURCES

Denver, Colorado-based Crestone Peak Resources, a domestic oil, and gas producer, has announced the company is laying off 159 employees, including 56 at its Denver headquarters, 90 at its operations center in Firestone, Colorado, 13 based elsewhere near Denver. Layoffs are scheduled for October 15, 2021, to coincide with the acquisition's final approval and closing.

The decision was driven by the acquisition of Crestone Peak Resources by Denver, Colorado-based Civitas Resources, recently formed by the merger of Bonanza Creek Energy Inc and Extraction Oil & Gas Inc.

Civitas itself is being created to consolidate oil and gas operations in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in response to regulatory restrictions and operational economies of scale. Many of the layoffs were duplicative positions across the three companies.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT MORTON SALT

Chicago, Illinois-based Morton Salt, North America's leading producer and marketer of food, water conditioning, industrial, agricultural, and road/highway use, has announced a post-aquisition restructuring that will see a 40% reduction-in-force at its Chicago headquarters. The layoffs will impact 120 employees, mostly in administrative support roles.

The company was acquired by Los Angeles, California-based Stone Canyon Industries, the largest salt producer in the world, in April, 2021 for $3.2 billion.

In a statement Morton Salt noted "We can confirm that Morton Salt made the difficult decision to reduce its corporate workforce by 120 employees in our Chicago offices. This was not a decision we took lightly, but after a comprehensive evaluation of our company's long-term financial outlook and our ability to become more competitive in the salt industry, this reduction was necessary to help meet our business goals. Impacted employees will receive severance or separation benefits, continued medical coverage and outplacement services to assist in finding new employment. We thank our employees for their service and wish them the best in their new endeavors."

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? IS THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL AT CRAY AND HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE?

The handwriting is clearly on the wall as San Jose, California Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the global enterprise-level computer technology company, has announced that it will be acquiring the iconic Cray supercomputer company based in Seattle, Washington-based for approximately $1.3 billion; subject of course to the normal and customary shareholder, regulatory, and other closing conditions. The acquisition is expected to close by the first quarter of HPE’s fiscal year 2020.

However, it appears that some major securities law firms are trolling for clients unhappy with the deal and are willing to allege that there were potential breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the Board of Directors of Cray Inc. in connection with the proposed acquisition of the Company.

According to HPE’s President and CEO Antonio Neri, “Answers to some of society’s most pressing challenges are buried in massive amounts of data. Only by processing and analyzing this data will we be able to unlock the answers to critical challenges across medicine, climate change, space and more. Cray is a global technology leader in supercomputing and shares our deep commitment to innovation. By combining our world-class teams and technology, we will have the opportunity to drive the next generation of high performance computing and play an important part in advancing the way people live and work.”

Neri went on to note, “We also expect to deliver significant cost synergies through efficiencies and by leveraging proprietary Cray technology, like the Slingshot interconnect, to lower costs and improve product performance.”

Efficiencies is a management and Wall Street code-word for eliminating redundant functions, departments, projects, and personnel. It is now time for employees to assess their value to the continuing enterprise programs and if their positions are duplicated within the combined enterprise.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere ... are you now wondering, Am I Next?