VM General News Thread

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by Pierre

I’m sure it was/is a lot more expensive than that.

£15m is peanuts anyway, if that was the figure.

I don't have the real number to hand so I just make one up.

[jfman]

From a quick Google I don’t think it’s quite straightforward to put a valuation on it as the 30 year licensing was tied to the NTL:Telewest acquisition of Virgin Mobile (which was nearly a billion quid which seems like a lot for an MVNO) and Branson got shares in the new entity.

One of the links seems to indicate a ten year break option which could be exercised in 2026/7.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Media Boy UK

I don't have the real number to hand so I just make one up.

Rising the question how often have made things up

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Itshim

Rising the question how often have made things up

As JFman remarked to me, a belter from MB there!

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Itshim

Rising the question how often have made things up

Originally Posted by Pierre

As JFman remarked to me, a belter from MB there!

To say i am shocked is an understatement

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Pierre

I’m sure it was/is a lot more expensive than that.

£15m is peanuts anyway, if that was the figure.

It's probably not far off the formula in this old document.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/d...41_2ex10d5.htm

---------- Post added 19-06-2023 at 00:13 ---------- Previous post was 18-06-2023 at 23:57 ----------

Originally Posted by Pierre

Well, it’s not certain they will sell.

But you are correct, more than a year down the line and we still have two identities. That doesn’t work. It didn’t work with NTL:Telewest and it doesn’t work now. It is also a barrier within the company with legacy employees hanging on to their former identities, it doesn’t help with integration.

You also have a great point that the O2 brand is just as powerful as the Virgin brand.

A decision will have to be made and unless contractual conditions prevent it, I can certainly see the O2 brand being favoured.

BT seem to be going with EE.

Good point on the internal culture. I remember speaking to someone at a large multinational accountancy firm which we'll call XY LLP. He said there were three distinct cultures/values/groupings there - those who joined from firm X, those who joined from firm Y and those who joined firm XY.

BT seem to be taking their time going over to EE branding. They've not got BT TV available as an EE service. I can't see a BT TV type service being discontinued by them as they're still retaining a 50% stake in TNT Sports.

[Gavin-D]

Virgin Media O2 has informed staff it is to make an unspecified number of workers redundant

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

Virgin Media O2 has informed staff it is to make an unspecified number of workers redundant

And that a surprise why

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

Virgin Media O2 has informed staff it is to make an unspecified number of workers redundant

That's not an accurate statement.

VMO2 has advised certain affected employees that they are at risk of redundancy.

The way you phrased it would imply that the whole of the VMO2 workforce has been advised of this, which isn't true.

I don't know the actual figure but as far as I can tell, it is not a large number. Which doesn't make it any easier for those affected, I understand.

[Pierre]

Between 500-800. By the sounds of it.

Out of 16,000, I think, works out at up to 5% of the total workforce.

[Gavin-D]

Virgin Media O2 will make at least 800 staff redundant this summer with the expectation they'll be by the end of July ahead of pay rises for staff on August 1st

https://www.telecomtv.com/content/ac...ut-woes-47834/

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

Virgin Media O2 will make at least 800 staff redundant this summer with the expectation they'll be by the end of July ahead of pay rises for staff on August 1st

https://www.telecomtv.com/content/ac...ut-woes-47834/

As I understand it, there are 800 employees at risk, and 500 will go.

VR is on offer. Any affected employees also have the opportunity to put forward a "counter proposal"

In a departure from usual procedure, the whole thing has been devised and managed by consultants, Deloitte and consultations for affected employees are being undertaken again by 3rd parties brought in from outside the company.

The salary issue is dodgy, the annual salary review is usually announced by the end of the financial year. But VMO2 dragged their heels and finally put forward their proposal in May in a very convoluted presentation (which was basically everybody gets £2,000, so a good % increase for lower salaries, diminishing as you go up the pay scale).

But instead of then awarding the increase in May's pay, backdated 1 month. They advised that the new pay will start in August's pay, and there will be a one off payment of £400 in June, because of having to wait, but the payment in August will not be backdated. (which many pointed out is less than they would have got with backdated pay. They explained the reasoning behind this really strange arrangement with a load baloney.

Then low and behold, they announce these redundancies the outcome of which will be resolved by August, meaning than all those taking VR or being made redundant will not benefit from the new salary in their compensation packages as they would have done had they been paid the new salaries in May.

Recently they had the brass neck to stand in front of everyone and take the whole workforce for fools and say that this was all just a coincidence!

[Gavin-D]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

Virgin Media O2 will make at least 800 staff redundant this summer with the expectation they'll be by the end of July ahead of pay rises for staff on August 1st

https://www.telecomtv.com/content/ac...ut-woes-47834/

Virgin Media O2 will now make up to 2,000 staff redundant by the end of this year, with some staff getting redundancy notices as early as last night

https://news.sky.com/story/virgin-me...-year-12926919[COLOR="Silver"]



Virgin Media has today released its Q2 results

• Fixed Line customers dropped by 24,700 to 5.8m
• Broadband had a net lose of 15,300 to 5,667,300
• Total Mobile connections dropped by 991,300 to 43,955,600

The drop in customers is a likely result of the massive price hikes in April and May starting to filter through

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

Virgin Media O2 will make at least 800 staff redundant this summer with the expectation they'll be by the end of July ahead of pay rises for staff on August 1st

https://www.telecomtv.com/content/ac...ut-woes-47834/

So what are all these people doing that are no longer needed?

---------- Post added at 10:17 ---------- Previous post was at 10:12 ----------

Originally Posted by Pierre

As I understand it, there are 800 employees at risk, and 500 will go.

VR is on offer. Any affected employees also have the opportunity to put forward a "counter proposal"

In a departure from usual procedure, the whole thing has been devised and managed by consultants, Deloitte and consultations for affected employees are being undertaken again by 3rd parties brought in from outside the company.

The salary issue is dodgy, the annual salary review is usually announced by the end of the financial year. But VMO2 dragged their heels and finally put forward their proposal in May in a very convoluted presentation (which was basically everybody gets £2,000, so a good % increase for lower salaries, diminishing as you go up the pay scale).

But instead of then awarding the increase in May's pay, backdated 1 month. They advised that the new pay will start in August's pay, and there will be a one off payment of £400 in June, because of having to wait, but the payment in August will not be backdated. (which many pointed out is less than they would have got with backdated pay. They explained the reasoning behind this really strange arrangement with a load baloney.

Then low and behold, they announce these redundancies the outcome of which will be resolved by August, meaning than all those taking VR or being made redundant will not benefit from the new salary in their compensation packages as they would have done had they been paid the new salaries in May.

Recently they had the brass neck to stand in front of everyone and take the whole workforce for fools and say that this was all just a coincidence!

Why don't they make pay rises simple e.g. RPI+3.9% like they have for customers. Seems fair.

Is there a union?

[Rillington]

Is it reasonable to assume that one repurcussion of this is that even more customer service roles will be offshored.