With Santulli Gone, NetJets Shaves Work Force

Fractional-ownership patriarch Richard Santulli resigned last month as head of the company he founded in 1986. Many within the industry have expressed it was because he refused to cut staff. Santulli sold NetJets several years ago to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, and with losses mounting, some believed Santulli was being pressured to lay off employees. Now, with Santulli gone, NetJets has announced staff cuts in the United States amounting to some 5 percent of its worldwide work force of some 8,000. New CEO David Sokol said the cuts were very difficult, but a "necessary step as the company must reduce its costs to the levels necessary to maintain NetJets' business." NetJets posted losses of $349 million in the first half of this year with revenues for the second quarter down by 43 percent. Revenue from flight operations is down by 22 percent and revenue from sales of shares is down 81 percent.