May 1 - 11:35pm EDT  Despite one of its best quarters ever, Apple on Thursday cut 174 sales jobs at its Elk Grove campus. The Business Journal reports that all affected employees -- some of whom were part of the company's telesales team and others who were online chat representatives -- were offered the option to relocate to location in Austin, Texas, or apply for another position at Apple in Elk Grove; however it was not clear why Apple chose to reduce its sales force as many predict a bright future with Macs sales growth outpacing the PC industry. Last year the company was searching for workers to man its iPhone support team in the Sacramento area. [full story]

April 3 - 11:45pm EDT   Motorola today announced it would terminate an additional 2600 jobs from its workforce, bringing the current total of layoffs to 10,000 since the beginning of 2007. According to The Wall Street Journal, Motorola comes up against increased pressure in the face of declining cellphone sales, of which it recently lost its coveted second tier position in worldwide handset share to Samsung, a move that caused Motorola's sales to fall 38 percent in year-over-year quarterly profits. [full story]

January 29 - 11:25pm EST   Yahoo recently unveiled plans to remove 1000 of its 14,300 employees by mid-February to cut costs and to refine its focus on its major services. The New York Times reports that in light of its fourth quarter earnings, and a dismal forecast of future financials, layoffs will occur in unspecified areas of Yahoo's workforce. While the amount of employees laid off are many, the company said that it would be investing heavily in select areas of business, so individuals effected by the cutbacks are free to apply to the focus areas. [full story]