5 Companies That Had A Rough Week

The Week Ending Feb. 1

Topping this week's roundup of those having a rough week is Nvidia, which surprised everyone this week when it slashed its revenue forecast for its just-completed fourth quarter.

Also making the list this week are storage management company Rubrik for a data security lapse; networking giant Huawei for facing criminal charges in the U.S. that include stealing trade secrets and violating trade sanctions against Ira;, employees at several leading IT companies who face the prospect of layoffs; and Apple for scrambling to fix an embarrassing bug in its FaceTime application.

Not everyone in the IT industry was having a rough go of it this week. For a rundown of companies that made smart decisions, executed savvy strategic moves—or just had good luck —check out this week's 5 Companies That Came To Win roundup.

Chipmaker Nvidia Cuts Q4 Forecast After Weak Data Center, Gaming CPU Sales

Calling its just-completed fiscal 2019 fourth quarter “extraordinary, unusually turbulent and disappointing,” Nvidia slashed its revenue forecastfor the quarter from $2.7 billion to $2.2 billion.

The forecast, well below Wall Street’s expectations, sent shares of Nvidia’s stock plummeting 14 percent Monday morning, one day after the Jan. 27 close of the quarter.

Lower-than-expected CPU sales for gaming PCs was a major factor in the lower revenue forecast. Slumping demand in China and “deteriorating macroeconomic conditions” were cited as reasons for the shortfall. And a number of data center deals failed to close in the quarter due to customers exercising caution.

Nvidia is scheduled to report the fourth-quarter results on Feb.14.

Rising Storage Star Rubrik Reportedly Leaked Customer Database

Data storage company Rubrik, which touts the cybersecurity capabilities of its data management technology and services, found itself in an embarrassing position this week when a report disclosed that a security lapse in its systemsexposed customer information.

A server with a database containing customer data wasn’t password-protected, allowing anyone who knew the server’s location to access Rubrik customer data. Rubrik pulled the server offline Tuesday when the problem was discovered.

Some of the exposed data included information that Rubrik clients used to interact with Rubrik personnel, including Rubrik signatures with names, titles and phone numbers. In some cases the data included some sensitive information about customer system setups and configuration.

Huawei, CFO Indicted In U.S. On Multiple Charges

Chinese networking giant Huawei and its chief financial officer face a range of criminal charges announced this week by the U.S. Department of Justice including stealing trade secrets, obstructing justice and helping banks evade sanctions on Iran, according to The New York Times.

The indictments charge that Huawei and CFO Meng Wanzhou committed a number of crimes, including conspiring to steal trade secrets from competitor T-Mobile.

Meng has been held in Canada after being detained late last year at the request of the U.S. This week acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker said the U.S. would seek to have her extradited to the U.S., according to the Times story.

Employees At SAP, VMware And AT&T Face Layoffs

Workers at several leading IT companies are experiencing uneasy times as the companies pare back their workforce in efforts to cut costs and restructure their operations to meet changing markets.

Software giant SAP announced this week a companywide restructuring plandesigned to simplify the company's structure and processes in a move to shift resources and skills toward strategic growth areas such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. The restructuring, expected to last through 2019, will result in 4,400 job cuts.

Virtualization tech developer VMware, meanwhile, confirmed this week that it has let go a "limited number" of employeesas part of its annual workforce rebalancing strategy. Like SAP, the company cited the need to align its resources "with strategic objectives and customer needs."

And AT&T likewise confirmed that it is in the midst of a round of layoffsthis week that sources described as "a very small portion" of its global workforce in the legacy services part of its business.

Apple Scrambles To Fix FaceTime Glitch That Lets Users Eavesdrop On Others

Apple took a lot of heat this week when the news broke that a bug in the company’s FaceTime iPhone application allowed users to listen in on people they were calling when they did not answer the call. The glitch, in some cases, also allowed a user to see video of the person they were calling before they picked up, according to The Guardian.

Apple temporarily disabled the group functionality on the FaceTime application while it scrambles to develop a fix for the problem.

The issue was an embarrassment for Apple, which has tried to portray itself as a defender of customer data and distance itself from high-visibility personal data gaffes by Facebook and other companies.