Tech blogs should not report on business

Tech blogs should not report on business

As I stated previously (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2009/01/ballmer-wimps-out-in-first-challenge.html), I find it incredibly distasteful when highly profitable companies lay off workers into weak job markets, further weakening the economy. Thus, I was quite upset to read that Apple laid off 1,600 (http://i.gizmodo.com/5225825/apple-removes-baby-shaking-app-1600-employees-from-app-store-actual-stores) retail workers (http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/apple-lays-off-1600-geniuses--594321), despite booming profits and a claim by coo Tim Cook that they would "invest [their] way through this downturn." (http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090122/tc_afp/usitinternetcompanyearningsapple) For a moment, I feared my rage would take over, but then I read through to the original report on CNET (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10226486-37.html) and discovered a lot of people don't knew what "Full-time Equivalent" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-time_equivalent) means.

Basically, FTE in this case means working 40 hours in a week. Two guys working 20 hours each is one FTE. One guy working 60 hours is 1.75 FTE, assuming 1.5 overtime. Thus, a report that Apple's retail workforce was cut by 1,600 FTE, roughly 10%, compared to the previous quarter does not mean 1,600 full-time workers lost their jobs.

Furthermore, the cut in FTE is between their first and second fiscal quarters, and Apple's Q1 ends two days after Christmas (http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/21/apple-iphone-jobs-markets-equity-cx_mlm_0121markets36.html). In other words, Apple cut 10% FTE from their retail stores after the holiday sales season ended. You know what other retailers cut FTE after the holidays? All of them! Every year! Between saying good-bye to seasonal staff and no longer needing regulars to work overtime, a drop in FTE is practically unavoidable, and a drop of only 10% could be explained by cutting overtime alone (time and a half, remember?)

Regardless, 1,600 full-time equivalent workers is not actually 1,600 full-time workers. While CNET did use the correct terminology in their report, their headline and photo tagline are misleadingly inaccurate. They also fail to recognize the holiday season as a factor, if not the factor, for the drop. In my opinion, that's lazy reporting on their end. As for the idiots who picked up the story without bothering to understand the content, I am reminded of the wisdom of old Obi-wan Kenobi, "Who's the more foolish: the fool or the fool who follows him?" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/quotes) And no, that does not refer to "foolish" in the Motley (http://www.fool.com/) sense.

Tech bloggers, you need to either stop reporting on the business aspects of tech companies, or look up terms you don't understand. Maybe you haven't heard, but there's a great service that helps you look up stuff called "Google." (http://www.google.com/) Try it some time.
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