Native Instruments Layoffs?

[Stefken]

When wealthy people choose to, or are forced to borrow,
it's rarely a good sign.

This statement couldn't be more wrong.

Yeah, getting rich with someone else's money is definitely a GOOD thing

I'm sayin', "Why spend mine when I can spend yours?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQa7SvVCdZk

Enjoy the show.

[Forgotten]

When wealthy people choose to, or are forced to borrow,
it's rarely a good sign.

This statement couldn't be more wrong.

I would think the opposite is true - borrowing is generally a sign of confidence in the economy

[Hink]

When wealthy people choose to, or are forced to borrow,
it's rarely a good sign.

This statement couldn't be more wrong.

I would think the opposite is true - borrowing is generally a sign of confidence in the economy

when we bought the house we basically used the cash we got from mom's condo for this house (we made 5k), the rest of my money was with a well known broker and doing well (now I changed trustees to a lawyer here and it's doing a little better). With my va loan it only made sense to split that money from the condo and invest the rest. We didn't pay a fortune for this house, but what we wanted to mortgage was below their minimum (that was anywhere in maine) for a mortgage. We were approved for a whole lot more but we wanted to still keep payments to very low, but because they wouldn't do it I just slapped down the cash.

Denise and I differed strongly on that, she got her wish as she didn't want any payment. Looking back, Denise dying changed the picture so much and it was by far the best thing.

[digitalboytn]

God bless you Hink...

You're OK

[Gribs]

I was "job-eliminated" from a R&D position at Fortune 500 company in Minnesota about three years and two months ago. I was part of a small wrap-up of 250 cuts in under-performing business areas after 5000 were cute worldwide the previous year.

I can tell you guys that after speaking with many engineers who have been job-eliminated from tech companies that it usually has nothing to do with performance. In my case, I had received one of the highest ratings in our laboratory. Our VP had a target number of jobs to cut, and he chose a program that he didn't like, killed it, and cut all of us. I interviewed in other divisions at the company and saw one director with a sheet of names of people cut from our area, every one with top ratings like me. He was going through the list and trying to find jobs in his organization for the people with high ratings. Unfortunately, the sales numbers in his own division took a downward spiral and the new program he was trying to start had to be scrapped. The VP who cut our program was "asked to retire" a few months later... in other words he was fired. He was a complete f**k-up... the Dilbert principle incarnate. Our program was pure organic growth for the company and heading towards success.

I was picked up by a one of the "big four" tech companies almost immediately. I thought I was going to have to pound payment for months and use up my six months severance pay, but my wife and I were willing to move for a new role and so off we went to the Bay Area. It turned out my set of skills are not common and are needed. In fact, we keep trying to hire people with similar skills and have a difficult time finding them. I can't tell you how many other people have a similar story... eliminated from 3M, Motorola or other unhealthy company and then swooped up by a healthy Bay Area tech company. I have coworkers from Blackberry and Nokia... Perversely, I made more money in 2016 than any other year previously and my total compensation package, even including the insane cost of housing in the Bay Area, is close to 2X what I was earning the the Midwest.

Anyway, I feel great empathy for the folks cut at NI and I truly hope they are able to find new positions quickly. It f**king sucks being in that position. My worst memory is of my daughter, nine years old at the time, telling me "daddy I'm scared" when she realized what was happening and saw how upset I was when the job-elimination went down. It is a major blow to your ego. I still have nightmares.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the company that job-eliminated me in 2016 bought back over $1 billion in shares and gave a major dividend increase to shareholders the same year.

[plexuss]

I know NI is not is the US. However, I thought this suit was of interest and relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co. This is one of the earliest examples of the transformation of business from profit sharing with customers and employees to shareholers. In summary, in 1919 Ford was very successful and spending profit on reducing retail costs (customers) and increasing wages and opening more plants (employees). Competitors like Dodge could not compete and sued Ford to get the court to force them to divert profit to shareholders. It worked. And... here we are.

[Hink]

God bless you Hink...

You're OK

appreciated

[masterhiggins]

When wealthy people choose to, or are forced to borrow,
it's rarely a good sign.

This statement couldn't be more wrong.

I would think the opposite is true - borrowing is generally a sign of confidence in the economy

No, lending is generally a sign of confidence in the economy. I know it sounds like the same thing, but they're not quite. A bank or funder are hesitant to loan money if there's too much risk. Their main goal is to make money and you're not going to make much if your borrowers can't pay you back. Borrowers always want to borrow money whether or not the economy is booming.

[glokraw]

Borrowing can be a sign the borrower lacks confidence,
ability, and/or patience to save for the purchase, without
paying interest.

Borrow from a friend, and it changes the conversation
at the gym, the bar, the church, the fishing hole etc

Borrow from family, and it changes the conversation
at holiday gatherings

Borrow from a bank, a fancied up loan shark,
or some stonehearted venture capitalists,
and there is no conversation, you just shut up, and obey.

Hopefully, a modicum of common sense will prevail
when NI receive their marching orders. So many fine
products that could be even better, and new products
that could benefit from lessons learned
in the past successful decade. Fingers crossed,
knocking on wood-grained formica

[EnGee]

Is the team behind FM8 and Massive there? Is the team behind Super 8 and Form there?

I think with these answers I can guess what direction NI is heading. It doesn't matter what kind of protection of 'access' to their services and products, but what are these services and products.

Still I think NI has No.1 sampler (widespread) and it is still going strong. Reaktor maybe not the second product as maybe Maschine has succeeded in general and maybe it is the flagship after Kontakt. Anyway, the last few years witnessed active development in Reaktor synths and Kontakt libraries. Of course Maschine libraries are getting pushed a lot, but I don't know how much profit they got.

I don't think online subscription is going to be a good idea for NI products and services, but they solve one problem 'Piracy'. Personally I won't bother with such a plan especially if you just rent the product and it stops functioning when you stop paying! I might consider if it is something like Bitwig, but not upgrading every year.

Anyway, there are competition in every field: Synths, libraries and samples and hardware. It is not like Adobe and its dominance in the image editing field. So, NI should step carefully or otherwise they might loose many customers to the competition.

[digitalboytn]

I don't know why many people are referring to NI in the past tense...

They are undergoing a corporate restructure and that is quite common,especially in these challenging times...

The're not dead yet

But you can be sure that the debt is weighing heavily on the balance sheets and satisfying that private equity funding will be paramount to their ultimate survival...

They haven't made anything in the last few years that is of any interest to me,but they'll have their marketing department running on overdrive to make sure that their loyal customers are cashing in kompletely....

Still...It's a little unfortunate that the company focus will be almost entirely on the money and not on the music

[whyterabbyt]

I don't know why many people are referring to NI in the past tense...

How else are you going to know what incredible insight those people clearly have regarding technology, business, marketing, finance, management and economics?

[EnGee]

I don't know why many people are referring to NI in the past tense...

Who are those people?

[Calenberger]

There‘s too much drama, hot air and superior attitude in this thread to take it serious.

[Forgotten]

Borrowing can be a sign the borrower lacks confidence

It’s usually a sign that the opposite is true - the level of borrowing is an important economic indicator of consumer confidence.