Emptoris Sends Out Pink Slips: Major Layoffs or Minor Workforce Changes?

Posted At : October 16, 2007 2:05 PM
Related Categories: Spend Management

Earlier today, I heard from a number of people that Emptoris had a significant layoff on Monday. But when I begun to dig below the surface, the facts turned out not to be as extreme as the rumors that were circulating at first. In no particular order, here are a few tidbits. First, it appears the net headcount reduction was somewhere between 30-40 people (taking into account the off-shoring of some positions). Second, the main areas which saw the most change were development, IT, support and professional services. And third, the changes might have felt larger to those close to it -- and might explain the rumors of a 25% reduction in headcount which are not true -- because of the movement of some jobs offshore. Personally, I share the same sentiments of one colleague who suggested this feels like "CFO housecleaning". Let's hope for the sake of the market that it's not a warning signal that Emptoris' much anticipated S-1 filing will be delayed into the second half of 2008 or 2009. What do you think? Drop me a line or post a comment to chime in.

- Jason Busch

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Hmmm ... let me get this straight. Upbeat user conference. New CFO. new product releases. Major layoff? Something is not quite adding up unless this is smaller than it appears to be. Was there a bad quarter?

# Posted By RIF Watcher | 10/16/07 2:46 PM

Hmmm... let's see. First of all some did notice the subtle absence of the VP of Engineering and the CTO from last week's conference. From what I heard there was an almost 50+ people sent home in the US and another 60+ pink slips in India. Employees mentioned of some groups in engineering, customer services and training getting decimated... and the VP of Engineering and the CTO are off the books. There was talk that the pipeline for Sourcing is flat to nil and just a little better in contracts. Apparently the only team that was barely affected was contracts. Seems like their Dicarta acquisition finally took the lead there.

# Posted By RIF Watcher Response | 10/16/07 3:15 PM

Development, IT, Support and Professional Services, Upper Management departures ... what's left ? And why is this happening just two days after a major release ? You sure about the S-1 filing ? Something's fishy here. Sounds like the reduction in workforce back during the B2B / tech bust !

# Posted By bangalorebystander | 10/16/07 3:25 PM

If they cut back in the US and moved the jobs to India, that's consistent with a CFO housecleaning and an S-1 filing. What could be more natural than reducing your cost base, especially since they have been moving in that direction all along? Cutting the CTO and the VP Engineering is not inconsistent, either. Who needs both a CTO and a VP Engineering, anyway? Spend more on one person, hire someone who is better qualified to lead them in the future, and save money to boot.

However, if they cut India staff as well, as one commenter claims above, that's inconsistent and troubling. Please check on that, Jason.

# Posted By Mr. Consistency | 10/16/07 8:07 PM

At a time when hiring and retention of employees in India is getting next to impossible ... layoffs in India does seem odd... Particularly of this magnitude. By the way is it right that the VP of Contracts Solutions also left ?

# Posted By SheRules | 10/17/07 11:48 AM

Emptoris is not a good company to work. In pune office there is lots of politics due to that some good employees already left. this happend for good so that these guys can get some good places. Rest beware its your turn now.. hahhahaha

# Posted By mark twain | 10/18/07 12:25 PM

Have it occur to anyone that VP of Eng and CTO is (was) the same person at Emptoris? :)

# Posted By Ostap | 10/18/07 1:53 PM

I deleted two comments with profanity. Please keep it civil, everyone.

# Posted By Jason Busch | 10/18/07 7:40 PM

Wonder what the status is of the Ariba v. Emptoris lawsuit (patent infringement)? I have heard of a number of key Emptoris customers migrating to other contract management providers, due to scalability issues, etc. with Emptoris's contract management product. Layoffs on top of this - things don't look so rosy...

# Posted By Watcher | 10/18/07 8:25 PM

Interesting that this was taken off the main page although it has a post date of the 18th and there are still posts up there from the 17th. The boyz in burlington must have cried directly to the blogmeister.....peace

# Posted By Siobhan | 10/19/07 12:55 PM

The posts are sequential by time and date. That post came out on the 16th. Click on "more entries" from the first page and it's currently top on the list of the second page.

If you're seeing something else, please tell me -- but everything should entirely be based on date and time.

# Posted By Jason Busch | 10/19/07 12:59 PM

Come on now guys, as of 11-6 I still see Gary Li as CTO, and he has been there for YEARS. Is this stuff fact or a baseless slam?

# Posted By Jenni | 11/6/07 11:27 AM

Well folks, they cut india stuffs. Around 22 ppl got laid off here on a day, including a guy who joined the company 2 days back..when it happen in US, it happens here too ..Life is not different here ..

# Posted By T | 11/16/07 8:05 AM

This company is cheap, and with the recent verdict on Ariba, they are going to cut head count. They have new executives that want everything run out of Mass. I think it was a blow when Dave Knowlton left for Selectica. What I understand Emptoris makes it hard to work with them, and are not jumping on any new opportunities unless they are a big ticket. They have nothing in the way of sourcing, and their contract management piece is to difficult to deploy.

This company has to many levels of management, and their VP of East and West regions are field reps who are not management material. I think when it is all said and done, Emptoris will not be the leader in contract management, they cannot differentiate themselves from their competitors to justify their expensive solution. Just because Gartner and Forrester think you are better, does not justify their ticket price. Why buy Emptoris, when all the others are cheaper and pretty much do the same thing.

# Posted By CManager | 11/5/08 8:08 PM

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