Tausi Insider

Tom Keiser, the Zendesk Inc. alumni, has run Hootsuite since mid-2020. Handout Vancouver social-media dashboard company Hootsuite Inc. replaced its chief executive officer and began its third major round of layoffs in six months Wednesday amid one of the worst weeks for Canadian tech workers since the sector’s downturn began in late 2021. Hootsuite confirmed to Tausi Insider that it would lay off about 70 people, or about 7 per cent of its work force. This follows a more significant round of layoffs in August, where nearly 400 of its then-1,400 staff lost their jobs, which was followed by another 50 people losing positions in the fall. The company also announced former CareerBuilder Inc. chief executive Irina Novoselsky as its new chief executive, replacing Tom Keiser, the Zendesk Inc. alumnus who has run the company since mid-2020. Also on Wednesday, the charitable- donation -management company Benevity Inc. said it would lay off 137 people, or 14 per cent of its staff. It was one o...

The exterior of the Microsoft office in Toronto on Jan. 1. Tijana Martin/Tausi Insider Microsoft Canada MSFT-Q became owned by an Irish affiliate in its 2021 fiscal year, according to documents that offer a rare glimpse at how its multinational parent company has taken advantage of Ireland as a tax haven. Such a structure could drive down the taxes that the Outlook, Word and Excel software giant pays on any profit it generates in Canada, experts say, by letting Microsoft Canada transfer profits to the lower-tax country with techniques such as royalty payments to the Irish parent company. Many jurisdictions, including Canada, put little pressure on large multinationals to disclose the finances of their local subsidiaries. But financial statements recently published by Ireland’s corporate registration office show that a Microsoft Corp. branch called Microsoft Round Island One UC became tax resident there as of Jan. 1, 2021. Inside Amazon’s strategy to shield its profits from Canadian t...

Google parent Alphabet Inc. is shutting down its artificial intelligence research office for DeepMind Technologies Ltd. in Edmonton, as the technology giant chops about 12,000 jobs worldwide in a cost-cutting measure during a sectorwide slowdown. DeepMind, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet GOOGL-Q, is consolidating across Canada, the company said in a statement. It is based in Britain, where it is also laying off an unknown number of operational staff. Locations in Toronto and Montreal, which are within Google’s offices there, will continue to operate as normal. Some researchers in Edmonton have been offered the option to relocate to another DeepMind office. The company, which was acquired by Google in 2014, has research centres in Canada, France and the United States. Alphabet chief executive officer Sundar Pichai said late last week that 6 per cent of Alphabet’s global work force will be laid off. The cuts are on top of massive layoffs at Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., as...