Property and technology companies the latest to cut staff

Property giant Mirvac will cut 160 staff after seeing half of its market value destroyed in the market collapse of the past two months.

Property giant Mirvac will cut 160 staff after seeing half of its market value destroyed in the market collapse of the past two months.

The cuts, which represent around 5% of Mirvac’s workforce, have been made across the group, with 60 Sydney-based workers set to go. Managing director Nick Collishaw says the job cuts are part of Mirvac’s wider plans to reduce costs by $20 million. He says further cost cutting initiatives are likely in the next few months.

Mirvac’s shares have halved in the last two months, cutting its market capitlisation to around $1.4 billion.

Up in Brisbane, property developer Brookfield Multiplex announced it was cutting 15 staff from its Brisbane office as a result of the economic downturn. The Queensland Government recently scrapped the company’s $1.7 billion Northbank project.

A number of staff at internet firm Yahoo7 were also given their marching orders yesterday. The company, which is a joint venture between US giant Yahoo and the local media group Seven Network, is believed to have cut around 20 staff, or 10% of the workforce. It is believed marketing staff made up the bulk of the cuts.

The cuts come after Yahoo reported a 64% fall in net profit for the September quarter, with profit sinking from $US151 million to $US54 million. The company announced it would cut around 10% of its global workforce of 14,300 in response to the poor result and the rapidly slowing economy.

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