Boiling point

Depression, recession, bear market... all have translated to job scares, a slowdown in demand and panic attacks. Here is a recap of the spillover effects of the ongoing economic imbroglio in the past fortnight, across the globe hiring.

News from boardrooms:

1. The New York Times has received a bailout worth $250 million from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
2. The Citigroup Incorporated has ceded control of its brokerage arm, Smith Barney, to Morgan Stanley.
3. Yahoo! will freeze pay hikes this year.
4. Nissan Motors is set to shift the production of its top-selling compact car to India and Thailand.
5. Kalyani Forge has temporarily shut the production at its plants.
6. The assets of Jagran Prakashan have been taken over by a bank because of the non-payment of an overdue loan amounting to Rs 8.05 crore.
   

Lay-offs:

1. The Royal Bank of Scotland may see 30,000 job losses over the next three to five years.
2. Construction equipment giant, Caterpillar, is set to axe 20,000 staff members.
3. Philips Electronics to cut 6,000 jobs globally.
4. Microsoft to slash 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, but none in India.
   

Hiring:

1. LIC to employ 11 lakh more agents by March 2011.
2. Paramount Airways to hire 500 pilots and 60 cabin crew members by 2011.
3. Maruti Suzuki to recruit 700 people across various departments in 2009-10.
4. Irish insurance firm Hibernian Aviva to phase out 580 jobs in Ireland and relocate them to India.
   

Bargains and deals:

1. Rs 99: Base fares by Air India on some domestic flights.
2. Free ISD calls: under the VoIP service to be launched in March by Seven Rings.
3. 50 per cent: fare cut by Jet Airways on select domestic routes.
   

Extras:

1. According to the ILO, as many as 51 million jobs could be lost this year. This will push up the world’s unemployment rate to 7.1 per cent by   end-2009, compared with 6 per cent in 2008.
2. For the first time, placement season at IITs has been extended till June.
3. Crude oil imports slumped in Dec 2008 to their lowest in over four years.

Brands and celebs:

1. Party poopers:  Nike, Sports Illustrated, Playboy and Cadillac are some of the companies and publications that have cancelled their star-studded parties for the Super Bowl week in America, this year.
2. Distress sale: Sergei Polonsky, head of the Russian real estate giant, Mirax Group, has announced that he will be selling his yacht, a grand home on the Cote d’Azur in France and a hotel in Turkey.
3. Fatal financials: German billionaire Adolf Merckle committed suicide because of the desperate situation of his companies resulting from the financial crisis.
4. Unhappy hours : UK’s celebrity chef, Antony Worrall Thompson, has closed his famous pub, The Greyhound, after falling victim to the credit crunch.
   
5. No more a jet-setter: The third richest man in Australia, multibillionaire James Packer, has put his yacht up for sale, postponed the delivery of a $60-million private jet, and has stopped mid-way the construction of a swimming pool complex at his family property.
   

Quotes:

1. No crisis can last forever. This one too will pass, but we should not waste this crisis. We should learn from it.
   - RBI Governor, D. Subbarao, in a note to RBI staff
2. Two-thirds of cars sold in the world are based on personal finance ... we are the first victim of the global financial meltdown.
   - Carlos Ghosn, Chief Executive, Nissan Motors
   
3. Fiscal actions are unlikely to promote a lasting recovery unless they are accompanied by strong measures to further stabilise and strengthen the financial system.
   - Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Federal Reserve (US)
   

Policies:

1. Germany has approved a ¤50 billion stimulus package, the biggest in Europe, to overcome the economic crisis.
2. The Reserve Bank of India has not changed any of the key rates (repo, reverse repo and the credit reserve ratio) in its review of the credit policy.