Microsoft reassures Yahoo staff
Microsoft Corp. said Friday it won’t totally uproot Yahoo Inc. from its Sunnyvale, Calif. headquarters if it succeeds in its bid to buy the Web portal company.
“In bringing the companies together, we would be committed to maintaining Yahoo’s significant presence in Silicon Valley,” wrote Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s platforms and services division, in an e-mail to employees. Johnson noted that Microsoft employs 1,800 people in nearby Mountain View.
The e-mail was written in question-and-answer format to address recent issues raised by employees. But Johnson did not directly answer questions about staffing and layoffs.
“While some overlap is expected in any combination of this size, we should remember that Microsoft is a growth company that has hired over 20,000 people since 2005, and we would look to place talented employees throughout the company as a whole,” he wrote.
Johnson’s comments seem aimed at responding to Yahoo’s decision to adopt new severance plans earlier in the week. All the company’s full-time workers who lose their jobs without “cause” or quit “for good reason” after a Microsoft takeover would continue to receive salary and health insurance for four to 24 months, plus other benefits.
The company did not give details about its definition of “good reason,” but observers noted that it could include relocation to Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters.
Regulators on Friday fined 13 Fox TV stations $7,000 each for a 2003 episode of “Married by America” that included graphic scenes from bachelor and bachelorette parties.
The Federal Communications Commission had initially proposed a $1.2 million fine against 169 affiliates of Fox Broadcasting Co., a division of News Corp., that aired the since-canceled reality show. But, under a new policy, the agency said it would only fine stations in markets where viewers complained.
Last week, the FCC fined 44 ABC Television Network stations a total of $1.2 million over a 2003 broadcast of “NYPD Blue.” The agency is focused on a scene in which a boy surprises a nude woman as she prepares to shower. ABC is owned by Walt Disney Co.
In the “Married by America” ruling, TV stations in Las Vegas; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Tupelo, Miss.; Des Moines; and, Okemos, Mich. face fines totaling $91,000.
In issuing its order, the FCC rejected arguments from Fox and its affiliates that no fine was warranted since the agency’s indecency standard is unconstitutional — and the episode in question didn’t even meet the indecency test.
The United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. have taken a big legal step toward shifting billions in retiree health care costs from the automaker to an independent trust fund.
The union and attorneys representing several retirees sued GM on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit in an effort to get court approval of the change. It would cover about 500,000 GM retirees and spouses, plus current UAW workers when they retire.
The lawsuit is not a hostile action. GM will not oppose its major points and joined the UAW and retirees in filing a settlement agreement that would govern how the trust would be run.
If the court approves, the trust will take on $46.7 billion in health care costs starting as early as Jan. 1, 2010.
According to court records, GM will pay $33 billion to $36.5 billion into the trust, called a voluntary employees beneficiary association, or VEBA.