http://working.canada.com/toronto/news/story.html?s_id=p1RV43Tlo%2bAa3T309NnQ5qOSzqv6dDF2dCE0rkwAhRmFQyil%2f%2banTQ%3d%3d
Alias Systems Inc., the Toronto software company bought by Autodesk Inc. for $182-million in October, will lay off up to 400 people worldwide today, sources told the Financial Post.
The high-end graphics software maker, best known for its work on such movies as Jurassic Park, is going to lay off predominately sales and support staff at its headquarters.
Wholesale cuts are expected at international offices in China, Germany, Japan and elsewhere.
Most of the firm's research and development staff in Toronto will be left untouched, sources said.
Alias employees in Toronto have been anticipating the cuts for months. "We're sitting on pins and needles," said one employee, who spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity. "We don't know anything yet."
Alias's top seven executives are expected to leave the company as part of the integration process with California-based Autodesk. Doug Walker, the company's chief executive, has said he will leave the company.
Neither Mr. Walker nor the six other top executives returned calls or agreed to speak with the Post yesterday.
Alias employs 500 people at its Toronto office and a total of 800 worldwide.
Autodesk, based in San Raphael, Calif., has said it wants to make the deal accretive to earnings in the second half of this year.
Brendan Barnicle, a software analyst with Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Ore., said layoffs are a normal part of any merger and acquisition involving technology companies.
However, Mr. Barnicle said Alias risks losing customers if it cuts sales people with valuable product expertise.
"There is always a risk when you do things like that" he said, adding that Oracle Corp. hurt itself when it laid off some sales staff after it acquired PeopleSoft Inc. for US$10.3-billion.
Alias rose to prominence in the mid- to late 1990s, when its critically acclaimed technology was featured in such major Hollywood films as Lord of the Rings.
But the company's fortunes, like that of thousands of others in the beleaguered technology sector, waned after the tech investing bubble burst in the spring of 2001.
Alias chopped 100 jobs in 2002 and cut software prices due to slack demand, and later sold itself to Silicon Graphics Inc. The Silicon Valley company, which was also ailing, sold Alias the following year to Accel-KKR, a private equity firm in New York City, and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan for US$57.5-million.
The high-end graphics software maker, best known for its work on such movies as Jurassic Park, is going to lay off predominately sales and support staff at its headquarters.
Wholesale cuts are expected at international offices in China, Germany, Japan and elsewhere.
Most of the firm's research and development staff in Toronto will be left untouched, sources said.
Alias employees in Toronto have been anticipating the cuts for months. "We're sitting on pins and needles," said one employee, who spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity. "We don't know anything yet."
Alias's top seven executives are expected to leave the company as part of the integration process with California-based Autodesk. Doug Walker, the company's chief executive, has said he will leave the company.
Neither Mr. Walker nor the six other top executives returned calls or agreed to speak with the Post yesterday.
Alias employs 500 people at its Toronto office and a total of 800 worldwide.
Autodesk, based in San Raphael, Calif., has said it wants to make the deal accretive to earnings in the second half of this year.
Brendan Barnicle, a software analyst with Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Ore., said layoffs are a normal part of any merger and acquisition involving technology companies.
However, Mr. Barnicle said Alias risks losing customers if it cuts sales people with valuable product expertise.
"There is always a risk when you do things like that" he said, adding that Oracle Corp. hurt itself when it laid off some sales staff after it acquired PeopleSoft Inc. for US$10.3-billion.
Alias rose to prominence in the mid- to late 1990s, when its critically acclaimed technology was featured in such major Hollywood films as Lord of the Rings.
But the company's fortunes, like that of thousands of others in the beleaguered technology sector, waned after the tech investing bubble burst in the spring of 2001.
Alias chopped 100 jobs in 2002 and cut software prices due to slack demand, and later sold itself to Silicon Graphics Inc. The Silicon Valley company, which was also ailing, sold Alias the following year to Accel-KKR, a private equity firm in New York City, and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan for US$57.5-million.