It would seem we’ve got all the makings of a tech shipwreck.
In the past few days, Xerox, Yahoo and eBay each announced plans to cut thousands of jobs. Esteemed Silicon Valley VC firm Sequoia Capital is warning entrepreneurs that it’s time to batten down the hatches because the good times are over.
Many Internet start-ups are starting to heed the dire warnings of their venture capital investors, and last week, some began cutting costs in order to survive the economic downturn, including laying off employees. Two weeks ago, Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, angel investor Ron Conway and other investors wrote some scary memos to their portfolio companies, warning them to conserve their cash, cut costs and start generating revenues.
Silicon Valley was all a flurry late last week after reports that some respected venture capitalists woke up from their rosy daydreams to the fact that Wall Street’s meltdown is going to have a big impact on their future.
Last night I reported on a special meeting held by Sequoia Capital for its portfolio companies, warning them about the fiscal hurricane that was going to hit them, and how they’d better figure out ways to survive what could be a big downturn.
Competition is intensifying in the virtualization sector.
Red Hat (RHT) this morning announced an agreement to acquire Qumranet, an Israeli company that provides a virtualization software platform, for $107 million in cash.
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