NewsForge has provided confirmation that MandrakeSoft has
undergone a major layoff, including CEO Henri Pool and a collection
of others (attributed to unnamed sources) including CTO Jean-Loup
Gailly, “the IS team,” except one, and a collection of others who
have either left or taken voluntary pay cuts. The report
characterizes the layoff as a “management bloodbath,” but notes
that the layoffs centered around U.S. staff, possibly provoked by
waning hopes of an IPO in the States.
“It’s starting to sound more like a management
bloodbath, or as a PR person would probably say, “a major
upper-level staff realignment.” But whatever words you use,
Mandrake seems to have had a sudden change of heart … err …
management. We are not exactly sure who is now in charge of the
popular Mandrake Linux distribution, but hope to find out soon. One
positive note: The original rumors we heard about Mandrake laying
off “all the desktop developers” are apparently untrue.…Company insiders note that most of the Mandrake managers who
were shown the door today are American. One source suggested that
this was because “Mandrake can’t rationally hope for a U.S. IPO any
time soon, so there was no reason to keep a lot of high-cost
American managers around. The company is now more French than it
has been for the last few years.”