All is not well in Seattle for executives at Washington Mutual. The Seattle Times has reported that some 3,400 WaMu employees, mostly from the company's headquarters, are to be let go by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). The good news for workers is, it appears that employees at WaMu's branch operations will, for the most part, be spared the ax.

These types of staff dismissals should come as no surprise in an era when companies are quickly consolidating just to survive. I suppose that it's fairly standard practice for an acquiring company to thin out the executive herd of any distressed company which it has recently purchased. In regard to this particular instance, The Seattle Times quotes JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon as stating: "We are going to build a great company for the long run. Unfortunately, that entails tough decisions in the short run." Tough decisions always tend to ooze downward.

To the credit of JP Morgan & Chase, the executives who are to receive their walking papers at WaMu, will apparently be sent off with moderate severance packages. However, this does little to lessen the pain of good jobs lost. Additionally, The Seattle Times article opens a discussion about the ramifications of this deep payroll cut and operations consolidation upon the local commercial lease space market in a city with an impending surplus of commercial office space.

Preliminary indications are that JPMorgan's consolidation of WaMu in to the 42-story WaMu Center will put approximately 500,000 square feet of commercial lease space back into the hands of Seattle landlords. At least one commercial real estate broker in Seattle indicated that WaMu's withdrawal from commercial space there could lead to slight downward pressure on rents. However, citing a rental office inventory of approximately 37 million square feet, Oscar Oliveira, a senior vice president with brokerage Colliers International, is quoted by The Seattle Times as stating: "It adds a couple percentage points to the vacancy rate... The bank's moves alone won't push lease rates down..."

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Alain Dassas has been named CFO of Nissan Motor Company (NASDAQ: NSANY), filing a position that has remained open for four years, reported the Wall Street Journal. Dassas runs the Formula One race car team at Renault, which has a 44% stake in Nissan.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C), Lehman Brothers Holdings (NYSE: LEH) and JP Morgan Chase and Company (NYSE: JPM), The banks involved in the underwriting of the TXU Corporation (NYSE: TXU) buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and TPG, have offered to pay the $1B breakup free to convince the private equity buyers to back out, according to the U.K. Times.
• GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) is currently looking for someone to succeed CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier, who will retire next May, and investors are thought to want a CEO that will 'radically overhaul' the company and possible break it up, reported the Guardian.
• The Seattle Times reported that Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) is expected to announce that the first flight of its 787 Dreamliner jet will be delayed at least until late October, according to an inside source.

WEBSITES:

• Herb Greenberg noted in his MarketWatch blog yesterday that International Rectifier Corporation (NYSE: IRF) disclosed on Friday after the market close how it was committing fraud by having a subsidiary hide products already booked as revenue in "off-books warehouses."

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is in talks with Hollywood studies over making new movies available for rental on its iTunes service, according to two studio executives familiar with the matter.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan may have added to subprime troubles by opposing a proposal for the Fed to use its authority to send examiners to the offices of consumer-finance lenders that were units of Federal regulated bank holding companies.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The Bush administration has repeatedly defended Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) against anti-competitive conduct accusations, including the rejection of a complaint by Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), reported the New York Times.
• A major Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) partner for the company's 787 Dreamliner program - Vought Aircraft - is falling behind in obtaining parts for the plane's fuselage sections, reported the Seattle Times.

WEBSITES:

• Senator Joe Lieberman said yesterday on "Face The Nation" that the United States should launch strikes against Iran if the government does not stop aiding anti-American forces in Iraq, reported CBS News website.

The Seattle Times has run a piece by Brier Dudley that takes a look at what details are known about the 'iPod killer' and makes it clear that Microsoft is aiming to do more than just take down the iPod. A whole line of Xbox-related items are being planned, software that plays media and integrates with media company's offerings, a device with wi-fi that plays media, and an online media service.

Sounds awfully a lot like an emulation of iPods + iTunes + iTunes Music Store. But as Brier Dudley notes with Apple and other companies becoming more than just software creators, Microsoft has to keep up. The big difference that the 'iPod killer' does have over the media combination already in place by Apple is that it looks like it will be able to play games. Something the iPod can't do. But that puts the iPod killer in competition with things like the PSP, which can already play games and do iPod-like things.

Which brings to mind this question? What is this new project exactly? The media has grabbed a hold of 'iPod killer' as a quick handle, and Microsoft is no doubt helping that along. But the PSP can do many iPod like things, but is not a direct competitor, as it is a portable game system primarily. I wonder if we're not seeing a well executed attempt to unseat Apple's media dominance, but another massive attempt by Microsoft do create a device that does everything all at once and competes with both Sony and Apple.

That might sound sexy from the get go, but it really misses the point. The iPod does well because it focuses on doing one thing well first, playing music easily. It has built on others from there. Microsoft's device sounds a bit confused about what exactly it might be focusing on doing well, while also battling two very media-savvy companies. That could be an interesting mistake.

[Disclosure: I own Apple stock at the date of this post]