Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
DVD and games rental chain Blockbuster has announced plans to close 72 stores resulting in the loss of about 452 jobs. The closures represent a 25% reduction of its 264 outlets and 2,000 employees.
The company went into administration earlier this week for the second time this year (see reports on the first collapse). The firm blamed fierce competition from online DVD rental providers and supermarkets.
The company had 528 stores when it initially collapsed into administration in January 2013.
UPDATE 05-12-2013: Blockbuster announced to finally close down all of its remaining stores in the UK by 16 December 2013. This decision affects 153 remaining stores, employing 1,235 staff. In total, the closure of Blockbuster resulted in the cut of over 2,000 jobs that remained after Gordon Brothers had taken over the company in March earlier this year.
Eurofound (2013), Blockbuster, Bankruptcy in United Kingdom, factsheet number 76211, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/76211.
This working paper offers a comprehensive methodological overview of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) databases. Even though the methodology has not changed over time, new categories have been added, and the way it has been used by researchers and policymakers...
This Eurofound research paper explores key trends in restructuring in recent years, highlighting the companies that announced the largest job losses and job gains in the EU. It builds on an analysis of company announcements recorded in Eurofound’s European Restructuring...
In 2023, thousands of workers in big tech lost their jobs. Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Salesforce had been considered to offer good and secure jobs up to this point. Giants of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector,...
In 2024, the automotive sector in the EU came to the fore in public and policy discussions. The focus was on the slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) sales, rising global competition, belated investments in new technologies, and the potential closure...
The more employee monitoring resembles surveillance – with its systematic, continuous and detailed tracking of employees' activities, behaviours or communications – the greater the potential for infringement of both privacy and data protection rights. Although the EU General Data Protection...
Since 2013, Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legislation has been documenting regulatory developments in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change. The most recent update to the...
