Latest news with #CostCutting
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chevron Cuts Layers, Eyes Guyana and Growth
Cost-cutting among energy companies is all the rage today. Oil prices are stable, but memories of recent devastation are still fresh, so Big Oil is cutting costs to stay in shape. One way to do it: centralize operations, which is what Chevron is doing right now. The idea is straightforward: simplicity is cheaper than complicatedness. So Chevron is going simpler by having just one global offshore business division manage all of its offshore operations, from the Gulf to Nigeria, and just one division handling human resources, information technology and finance—out of the Philippines and Argentina. 'We're working so hard to simplify our structure, take some layers out so that we can execute faster,' Chevron vice chairman Mark Nelson told Bloomberg in an interview this week. 'Best practices are decided upon and applied across the system regardless of what continent they happen to sit on.' The simplification drive follows from a cost-cutting plan announced back in February that would see Chevron shed a fifth of its global workforce and save $3 billion in costs. The plan was prompted by the supermajor's offer to acquire Hess Corp. for $53 billion, even though the finalization of that deal remains uncertain until the International Chamber of Commerce announces its ruling on the dispute with even without the deal, chances are Chevron would go ahead with the cost-cutting—because these days oil companies need to work to win investors, at least according to Bloomberg. The publication pointed out in its report that oil price volatility and what it called 'an uncertain outlook for fossil fuels' had made investors more demanding in terms of dividends and share repurchases. This had, in turn, forced company executives to prioritize shareholder returns over other business objectives. That oil prices are volatile is certainly true, and that volatility is of a new, software-driven sort as a lot of oil trades follow algorithms rather than human decisions. As for the uncertainty in the outlook for hydrocarbons, there are plenty of signs that demand for them is still going to be around decades in the future—and the size of that demand will not be very different from what it is today, despite all the forecasts predicting peak demand growth before 2030. Those forecasts are based on computer models and an abundance of wishful thinking, which has incidentally contributed to the heightened volatility of oil prices as spikes tend to occur when physical, real-world data shows demand to be stronger than assumed. This is why Chevron may be streamlining its operations and laying off staff, but it is also pursuing production growth. Earlier this year, for instance, Chevron announced plans to drill in Namibia, where some other Big Oil majors had made significant discoveries in recent years. The supermajor is also investing in exploration in Nigeria and Angola, and last month won the rights to explore nine offshore blocks in Brazil's Foz do Amazonas basin. Then there is, of course, the Hess Corp. deal, which is perhaps the best evidence that Chevron is realistic about the future of oil demand. Hess Corp. is Exxon's partner in Guyana's Stabroek Block. It has a 30% stake in that block and the over 11 billion barrels of oil sitting underneath it. Chevron wants that stake—and who wouldn't, except the devout believers in peak oil demand? Cost-cutting in oil and gas is all the rage today, but it is easy to focus on just some of the more obvious reasons, such as investor perceptions about the future prospects of the industry, reinforced copiously by media that openly embraces the ideology of net zero. The deeper reason, however, may well be a desire to boost resilience in case of future shocks. By Irina Slav for More Top Reads From this article on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fast Company
06-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Amazon's layoffs at Goodreads: Another blow for the long-suffering book review platform?
Amazon famously started as an online bookstore. In the three decades since, it has disrupted how people buy, read, and review books through steps like undercutting local bookstore prices, launching the Kindle, and buying the book-review platform Goodreads. Now, Amazon has announced new job cuts, including at its Kindle and Goodreads teams, Reuters reports. In total, the company is reportedly cutting fewer than 100 jobs across its book division. Since 2022, Amazon has laid off about 27,000 employees as part of a cost-cutting strategy, according to CNBC. The online retailer claims its decision should streamline the impacted departments. 'As part of our ongoing work to make our teams and programs operate more efficiently, and to better align with our business roadmap, we've made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles within the Books organization,' an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters. Criticism over Goodreads stewardship Amazon bought Goodreads in 2013 and has since been accused by the publishing industry of neglecting the book tracker and having only bought it to prevent competition. Goodreads 'hasn't been all that well maintained, or updated, or kept up with,' Jane Friedman, a publishing industry consultant, told The Washington Post in 2023. 'It does feel like Amazon bought it and then abandoned it.' The online retailer also has a review system and launched a 'Your Books' feature in 2023 for customers to track all their digital and print titles and get reading suggestions (another option available on Goodreads).
Washington Post
01-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Musk and DOGE are a metaphor for early months of Trump's administration
Elon Musk said Friday that he is mostly done with Washington, but he leaves behind unfinished business, considerable damage and lowered expectations for his U.S. DOGE Service. He and the cost-cutting initiative are a metaphor for the first months of President Donald Trump's second term: big promises, lots of drama, disruption, mistakes, directional shifts and business far from finished.
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Chief justice temporarily blocks access to DOGE records in FOIA suit
Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. temporarily blocked a government watchdog group from obtaining records from the Trump administration's cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, whose inner workings have largely been shielded from public view. The brief administrative stay issued Friday will give the court more time to consider the underlying issues.
