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(Reuters) -Cybersecurity firm F5 on Monday forecast first-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates, citing near-term disruption to sales cycles following the recent cybersecurity breach at the company. F5 expects first-quarter revenue in the range of $730 million to $780 million, compared to analysts' average estimate of $791 million, according to data compiled by LSEG. (Reporting by Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning on Tuesday, as the company works to pare expenses and compensate for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter. The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since around 27,000 jobs were eliminated starting in late 2022.  An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment. Amazon has been trimming smaller numbers of jobs over the past two years across multiple divisions, including devices, communications, podcasting and others. The cuts beginning this week may impact a variety of divisions within Amazon, including human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, devices and services and operations, among others, the people said. Managers of impacted teams were asked to undergo training on Monday for how to communicate with staff following email notifications that will start going out on Tuesday morning, the people said. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is undertaking an initiative to reduce what he has described as an excess of bureaucracy at the company, including by reducing the number of managers. He installed an anonymous complaint line for identifying inefficiencies that has elicited some 1,500 responses and over 450 process changes, he said earlier this year. Jassy said in June that the increased use of artificial intelligence tools would likely lead to further job cuts, particularly through automating repetitive and routine tasks. "This latest move signals that Amazon is likely realizing enough AI-driven productivity gains within corporate teams to support a substantial reduction in force," said Sky Canaves, an eMarketer analyst. "Amazon has also been under pressure in the short-term to offset the long-term investments in building out its AI infrastructure." The full scope of this round of job cuts was not immediately clear. The people familiar with the matter said the number could change over time, as Amazon's financial priorities shift. Fortune earlier reported that the human resources division could be targeted with a cut of roughly 15%. Layoffs.fyi, a website tracking tech job cuts, estimated that about 98,000 jobs have been lost so far this year among 216 companies. For all of 2024, the figure was 153,000. Amazon's largest profit center, cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services, reported sales in the second quarter of $30.9 billion, a 17.5% increase that was well below the sales gains for Microsoft's Azure and Google Cloud, which gained 39% and 32%, respectively. Google Cloud is owned by Alphabet.  Estimates indicate that AWS will have boosted third-quarter sales by about 18% to $32 billion, a slight slowdown from last year's 19% increase. AWS is still reeling from a roughly 15-hour internet outage last week that felled many of the most popular online services, like Snapchat and Venmo. Indications are that Amazon is expecting another big holiday selling season. The company said it plans to offer 250,000 seasonal jobs to help staff warehouses, among other needs, the same as in the prior two years.  Amazon shares were up 1.3% at $227.11 near the close of trading on Monday. The company plans to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday.  (Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Milana Vinn (Reuters) -SAP, Europe's largest software provider, offered to buy accounting software firm BlackLine for nearly $4.5 billion in June but was rebuffed and is now considering whether to pursue the company again, according to a copy of the offer letter reviewed by Reuters and a person familiar with the matter.   The German software giant, which is working with JPMorgan on the deal, submitted a formal, non-public offer of $66 per share on June 18, but BlackLine wasn't interested in a deal and rejected the advance, according to the letter and person familiar with the talks. The offer represented a 31% premium to the 60-day average price of $50.50. In the offer letter, SAP said it doesn't need outside financing to close the deal.   Private equity firm Clearlake Capital holds nearly 9% of BlackLine's shares and would have a say in a potential sale as a large shareholder. The Vanguard Group and BlackRock are other top shareholders through their fund families.  SAP is now weighing whether it wants to reopen negotiations, although nothing's been decided and it hasn't sent another formal offer, according to the person familiar with the matter. They asked not to be identified since the discussions are private. SAP, JPMorgan and Clearlake declined to comment. BlackLine and Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Los Angeles-based BlackLine provides cloud-based software that helps companies automate and manage complex financial and accounting processes. Its products are designed to modernize tasks traditionally done on spreadsheets, reducing errors and increasing efficiency for corporate finance departments. BlackLine and SAP have a long-standing partnership; SAP sells BlackLine’s solutions to its customers. The agreement accounts for nearly 30% of BlackLine's annual revenue, according to company disclosures. SAP's Chief Financial Officer Dominik Asam and Chief Corporate Development and Investment Officer Georg Kniese said buying BlackLine represents a "logical extension of the long standing partnership" between the two companies, according to the offer letter addressed to BlackLine co-CEOs Theresa Tucker and Owen Ryan. The offer came as Tucker, who founded BlackLine and stepped down earlier this month, was preparing to hand over the reins to Ryan, who also serves as chairman. An acquisition of BlackLine would significantly bolster SAP's cloud-based financial software suite as it competes with rivals like Oracle and Workday. BlackLine’s financial automation software, already tightly integrated with SAP, helps companies clean up financial records before migrating to new platforms. BlackLine could help SAP, which has struggled to quickly migrate customer data to its newer HANA cloud platform, potentially boost HANA adoption by simplifying that process. (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Editing by Dawn Kopecki, Leslie Adler and Nick Zieminski)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Milana Vinn -SAP, Europe's largest software provider, offered to buy accounting software firm BlackLine for nearly $4.5 billion in June but was rebuffed and is now considering whether to pursue the company again, according to a copy of the offer letter reviewed by Reuters and a person familiar with the matter.   The German software giant, which is working with JPMorgan on the deal, submitted a formal, non-public offer of $66 per share on June 18, but BlackLine wasn't interested in a deal and rejected the advance, according to the letter and person familiar with the talks. The offer represented a 31% premium to the 60-day average price of $50.50. In the offer letter, SAP said it doesn't need outside financing to close the deal.   Private equity firm Clearlake Capital holds nearly 9% of BlackLine's shares and would have a say in a potential sale as a large shareholder. The Vanguard Group and BlackRock are other top shareholders through their fund families.  SAP is now weighing whether it wants to reopen negotiations, although nothing's been decided and it hasn't sent another formal offer, according to the person familiar with the matter. They asked not to be identified since the discussions are private. SAP and JPMorgan declined to comment. BlackLine, Morgan Stanley and Clearlake did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Editing by Dawn Kopecki; Editing by Leslie Adler)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning on Tuesday, as the company works to pare expenses and compensate for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter. The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since around 27,000 jobs were eliminated starting in late 2022.  An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment. Amazon has been trimming smaller numbers of jobs over the past two years across multiple divisions, including devices, communications, podcasting and others. The cuts beginning this week may impact a variety of divisions within Amazon, including human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, devices and services and operations, among others, the people said. Managers of impacted teams were asked to undergo training on Monday for how to communicate with staff following notifications that will start going out via email on Tuesday morning, the people said. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is undertaking an initiative to reduce what he has described as an excess of bureaucracy at the company, including by reducing the number of managers. He installed an anonymous complaint line for identifying inefficiencies that has elicited some 1,500 responses and over 450 process changes, he said earlier this year. Jassy said in June that the increased use of artificial intelligence tools would likely lead to further job cuts, particularly through automating repetitive and routine tasks. The full scope of this round of job cuts was not immediately clear. The people familiar with the matter said the number could change over time, as Amazon's financial priorities shift. Fortune earlier reported that the human resources division could be targeted with a cut of roughly 15%. Amazon shares were up 1.2% at $226.80 on Monday afternoon. The company plans to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday.  (Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning on Tuesday, as the company works to pare expenses and compensate for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter. The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since around 27,000 jobs were eliminated starting in late 2022.  An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment. Amazon has been trimming smaller numbers of jobs over the past two years across multiple divisions, including devices, communications, podcasting and others. The cuts beginning this week may impact a variety of divisions within Amazon, including human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, devices and services and operations, among others, the people said. Managers of impacted teams were asked to undergo training on Monday for how to communicate with staff following notifications that will start going out via email on Tuesday morning, the people said. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is undertaking an initiative to reduce what he has described as an excess of bureaucracy at the company, including by reducing the number of managers. He installed an anonymous complaint line for identifying inefficiencies that has elicited some 1,500 responses and over 450 process changes, he said earlier this year. Jassy said in June that the increased use of artificial intelligence tools would likely lead to further job cuts, particularly through automating repetitive and routine tasks. The full scope of this round of job cuts was not immediately clear. The people familiar with the matter said the number could change over time, as Amazon's financial priorities shift. Fortune earlier reported that the human resources division could be targeted with a cut of roughly 15%. Amazon shares were up 1.2% at $226.80 on Monday afternoon. The company plans to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday.  (Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning Tuesday, as the company works to pare expenses and compensate for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter. The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since around 27,000 jobs were eliminated starting in late 2022.  An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment. Amazon has been trimming smaller numbers of jobs over the past two years across multiple divisions, including devices, communications, podcasting and others. The cuts beginning this week may impact a variety of divisions within Amazon, including human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, devices and services and operations, among others, the people said. Managers of impacted teams were asked to undergo training on Monday for how to communicate with staff following notifications that will start going out via email tomorrow morning, the people said. Amazon shares were up 1.5% to $227.53. The company plans to report third quarter earnings on Thursday.  (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning Tuesday, as the company works to pare expenses and compensate for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter. The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since around 27,000 jobs were eliminated starting in late 2022.  An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment. Amazon has been trimming smaller numbers of jobs over the past two years across multiple divisions, including devices, communications, podcasting and others. The cuts beginning this week may impact a variety of divisions within Amazon, including human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, devices and services and operations, among others, the people said. Managers of impacted teams were asked to undergo training on Monday for how to communicate with staff following notifications that will start going out via email tomorrow morning, the people said. Amazon shares were up 1.5% to $227.53. The company plans to report third quarter earnings on Thursday.  (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Milana Vinn -SAP, Europe's largest software provider, offered to buy accounting software firm BlackLine for nearly $4.5 billion in June but was rebuffed and is now considering whether to pursue the company again, according to a copy of the offer letter reviewed by Reuters and a person familiar with the matter.   The German software giant, which is working with JPMorgan on the deal, submitted a formal, non-public offer of $66 per share on June 18, but BlackLine wasn't interested in a deal and rejected the advance, according to the letter and person familiar with the talks. The offer represented a 31% premium to the 60-day average price of $50.50. In the offer letter, SAP said it doesn't need outside financing to close the deal.   Private equity firm Clearlake Capital holds nearly 9% of BlackLine's shares and would have a say in a potential sale as a large shareholder. The Vanguard Group and BlackRock are other top shareholders through their fund families.  SAP is now weighing whether it wants to reopen negotiations, although nothing's been decided and it hasn't sent another formal offer, according to the person familiar with the matter. They asked not to be identified since the discussions are private. SAP and JPMorgan declined to comment. BlackLine, Morgan Stanley and Clearlake did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Editing by Dawn Kopecki; Editing by Leslie Adler)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has appointed insider Vishal Shah to a key artificial intelligence-linked role, heading product management for AI products, the social media giant said on Monday. The move underscores Big Tech's focus on the booming technology, directing resources and top talent towards AI development. Meta is competing against Microsoft and startups such as OpenAI and Anthropic to build the most sophisticated AI models. Shah was in charge of product management for Instagram at Meta for over six years, before becoming vice president of Metaverse — the company's concept for a three-dimensional virtual world — in 2021. The development was first reported by the Financial Times earlier on Monday, citing an internal memo. Shah will report to Meta's head of AI product, Nat Friedman, according to the report. A spokesperson for Meta confirmed Shah's new role but declined to comment on details regarding the appointment when contacted by Reuters.  This marks another reshuffle for Meta's management, after the company last week announced it was cutting around 600 roles in its Superintelligence Labs unit, as it looks to make its AI unit more flexible and responsive. (Reporting by Anhata Rooprai and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru and Echo Wang in New York; Editing by Alan Barona)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)