Ubisoft, the company behind “Assassin’s Creed,” received a call from a union on Thursday for three days of work stoppage after the French video game company ordered employees back to the office.
TakeAway Points:
- The French videogame company Ubisoft, the maker of “Assassin’s Creed,” received a demand from a union on Thursday for three days of work stoppage.
- The union said in a statement that after more than five years of working efficiently in the current remote-work context, it cannot return to the previous working conditions and would commerce strike action on Oct 15.
- According to a message, Dell Technologies announced on Thursday that starting on September 30, personnel of their worldwide sales team who are permitted to work from the corporate offices must do so five days a week.
- The change is to leverage a collaborative environment and “grow skills”, which requires the team to be in the office.
Union moves for strike action
Ubisoft told its employees that they would be required to go to the office three days a week, the STJV videogame workers’ union said, adding that the company’s demand came after profit-sharing negotiations collapsed.
“After more than five years of working efficiently in the current remote-work context, many of our colleagues have built or rebuilt their lives (family life, housing, parenthood, etc.) and simply cannot return to the previous working conditions,” the union said in a statement.
It said the strike would take place on Oct. 15-17.
Ubisoft’s shares dropped by more than 17.5% after it postponed the release of “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” by three months on Wednesday and cut its net bookings guidance.
The company had been counting on the Assassin’s Creed game and “Star Wars Outlaws”, which was released to a tepid reception, to improve its fortunes after four years of negative cash flow, game cancellations, and delays.
Separately, an activist investor pushing for a sale Ubisoft has gathered support from 10% of its shareholders, it said in a letter on Thursday that was exclusively shared .
Dell has asked its global sales team to work five days a week in office
Dell Technologies said on Thursday that their global sales team employees who are able to work from the company offices must do so five days a week, starting Sept. 30, according to a memo.
The change is to leverage a collaborative environment and “grow skills”, which requires the team to be in the office, the memo said. “Working remotely should be the exception rather than the routine,” it added.
The field representatives from the sales team are expected to spend five days a week with customers and partners, or in the office. The team was previously required to work from the office for three days per week, according to the memo.
“Remote sales team members who can’t go into a Dell office should continue to work remotely,” Dell added.
The company also mentioned that it will provide more information related to remote workers in the coming weeks.
Since the pandemic, many companies have permitted employees to work from home. Some tech firms, however, now want employees to return to the office for two to three days each week.
Last week, e-commerce giant Amazon.com said it would require employees to return to working at company offices five days per week, beginning next year, toughening a prior three-day mandate.
Intel and US to finalise $8.5 billion in chips funding by year-end, FT reports
Intel and the U.S. government will likely finalise $8.5 billion in direct funding for the chipmaker before the end of the year, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the discussions.
The discussions were at an advanced stage, but there was no guarantee they would be finalised before the 2024 end, the report said, adding that any takeover of all or part of Intel’s business could risk disrupting the talks.
U.S. President Joe Biden awarded Intel nearly $20 billion in grants and loans in March to boost the company’s domestic semiconductor chip output.
The preliminary agreement was for $8.5 billion in grants and up to $11 billion in loans for Intel in Arizona, where some of the funding will be used to build two new factories and modernize an existing one.
Qualcomm has approached Intel to explore a potential acquisition of the troubled chipmaker, Reuters reported earlier this month.
Once the dominant force in chipmaking, Intel ceded its manufacturing edge to rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and failed to produce a widely desired chip for the generative artificial intelligence boom capitalized on by Nvidia and AMD.
