Philips Cuts 4,000 Employees(forbes.com)
forbes.com
Philips Cuts 4,000 Employees
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/10/25/philips-cuts-4000-employees-here-are-the-biggest-us-layoffs-this-year/
2 comments
At 5 percent of its workforce, that implies Philips has close to 100k employees. That's much larger than I'd expect. What things does Philips do that are unknown to me?
Philips used to make lightbulbs, radios, cassette players, MP3 players, and television sets. They make a lot of medical equipment: CPAP machines, ventilators, ultrasound machines, X-ray machines, MRI machines, those automatic defibrillators you see on the wall in public spaces.
ASML and TSMC, which make iPhone chips, were both partially owned by Philips until being sold off. Philips still has a stake in NXP, which makes chips for cars, phones, and industrial devices.
They also sell toothbrushes, electric razors, coffee machines, and breast pumps. And they still sell lightbulbs (but now with Wi-Fi).
ASML and TSMC, which make iPhone chips, were both partially owned by Philips until being sold off. Philips still has a stake in NXP, which makes chips for cars, phones, and industrial devices.
They also sell toothbrushes, electric razors, coffee machines, and breast pumps. And they still sell lightbulbs (but now with Wi-Fi).
Modern day (nonmedical) consumer electronics bearing the Philips mark are all produced by others under license.
Philips had 412,000 employees in 1974. Huge in its heyday. Currently 78,000. Sadly mismanaged into irrelevance for decades.
A lot. Hi-fi to kitchen gadgets to lighting (though I think they spun that off a while ago?) to personal hygiene.
They used to do semiconductors before they sold this division and it became NXP. They are kind of like Bosch. Everywhere, but hard to see.
ASML is another high profile spinout.
A lot of medical devices.
had a footprint in radiation oncology, at least at the time i interned. lots of machines that go into hospitals that are used on you but you never see
Kinda sad given that Phillips is the legendary company that gave us the compact cassette and the compact disc.