HMV staff go rogue on Twitter as redundancies announced
Angry HMV head office staff have taken to Twitter using the retailer’s official account to break the news that employees were being made redundant by administrator Deloitte.
The Tweets, which have since been removed, came from unidentified head office staff using the hashtag #hmvXfactorFiring.
Comments include: “We’re tweeting live from HR. We’re all being fired!”
The social media team had previously not posted from the official Twitter account since 14 January.
One tweet stated: “Just overheard our marketing director (he’s staying folks) say ‘how do I shut down Twitter?’.”
Mark Hodgkinson, marketing and e-commerce director, is understood to be remaining but it is not clear how the rest of the marketing, digital and social media teams are affected.
Deloitte has confirmed 190 head office jobs will go. All stores remain open and trading with no redundancies for the mean time.
Nick Edwards, joint administrator, says: “Although such decisions are always difficult, it is a necessary step in restructuring the business to enhance the prospects of securing its future as a going concern.
“We have been very pleased with the level of interest in the business as a going concern, whilst the response from customers has demonstrated the demand to see HMV remain on the high street. Equally, the support received from suppliers has been very positive and has enabled us to continue trading during the administration. As a result of all of these factors, I remain hopeful we will be able to secure a future for a restructured business.”
Calls to both Hodgkinson and HMV were not returned.
