SlashGear Japan
So Helio, our, well at least, my favorite mobile provider and purveyor of some of the best devices on the market, cut about 100 jobs the other day. Thankfully, they didn’t cut them because of financial woes, in fact it’s quite the opposite.
They cut those jobs because July was a record month for the company and August has already beat that record by at least 25%, which caused them to take notice of where they weren’t making money. So, they are still in business, and it looks like they will be for a while.
What they have done is consolidate their field offices from 5 to two, one on each coast. Their stores, kiosks, all that stuff will still be open, and their online store will obviously remain open. Basically what they saw was that most of the initiative being pursued by their field offices weren’t making enough money except in their top 20 primary markets, of which there weren’t very many between the two coasts, in fact if I had to guess there were only a couple “primary markets” between the coastal states, so all is good, nay, all is great. So please Helio, continue providing your great mobile service and the amazing exclusive devices.
Helio cuts 100 jobs, memo from CEO Sky Dayton [via BoyGeniusReport]
2 Responses to “Helio Cuts 100 Jobs, Nothing To Worry About Though”
Alan September 2, 2007
It is never a good sign when a start-up is cutting jobs and wishful thinking won’t make it so. Hopefully Helio will not go the way of Amp’d and ESPN Mobile but this is clearly a very bad sign and it seems highly unlikely that Earthlink will have any appetite to kick in another $100 million unless something dramatic happens ——- and 25% bumps (if one can believe this) are clearly not going to cut it. So, the question would seem to be how committed is SK telecom?
NeutralJames Allan Brady September 2, 2007
i really am not worried at all about Helio, as i said in the article, they did it while they were making the most money they had made in a given period of time to date, and they had good reason for eliminating the divisions they did.
plus they just dropped two great devices in less than 90 Days
i personally have seen a HUGE increase in the number of Helios i see these days, it went from having only seen one in person (my co worker Chris Barr’s Ocean) to seeing a few (mostly Fins) every day. so they arent lying about making more money, i mean i live in Indiana, where i dont think we have a single dedicated Helio retailer, and i am seeing a surge in Helions
so the company is fine, and its not just wishful thinking, plus SK telecom is probably in it for the long haul, they appear to be a company bent on expanding their range into US markets, so even if Earthlink decides not to put any more money towards this venture, i’d just about be willing to wager SKT will cover whatever Helio needs, if anything, since if i had to assume they are probably pretty close to making enough to run themselves, not quite profitable yet, but close to not being a costly venture anymore.
Neutral