Coronavirus lockdown has impacted many businesses permanently and temporarily

Lockdown has affected many businesses around the world. The recent announcement by the Japanese tech company Toshiba about quitting the laptop business has made us worried. Toshiba, once well-known for its satellite range of laptops which were meant for heavy use, sold its remaining 19.9 per cent stake in its Dynabook laptop brand to Sharp which became the official exit from laptop business. Earlier, the company had sold 80.1 per cent stake to Sharp in 2018. Although Toshiba didn’t site the coronavirus lockdown as the reason for the exit from laptop business, still the fact that lockdown has impacted many businesses can’t be denied.

Here are some other businesses that have registered big loss during the lockdown.

Gold’s Gym

One of the hardest-hit industry is the fitness industry as gyms, yoga centres and other fitness centres are closed for more than 4 months. Gold’s Gym, a well-known gym-franchise which owns and operates more than 700 gyms across the world had recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States on May 4.

Outsourcing companies in trouble

The nationwide shutdown in India has left some of the world’s biggest outsourcing companies of the country racing to maintain services for global clients. There are various IT companies in India that provide back-office operations for many of the world’s largest corporations including pharmaceuticals, banks and manufacturers. Companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) which has Citibank among its clients, Infosys’ client is Pfizer, Mahindra and others have had to swiftly shift desktops at employees’ residences and upgrade networks, so they can continue working from their homes.

Nokia

Nokia, a well-known tech brand in India had earlier suspended operations at a telecoms gear manufacturing plant in southern India after several employees tested positive for Coronavirus. However, Nokia did not disclose how many workers had to lose the continuity of work and pay at their plant in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.

Amazon

Amazon, the largest e-commerce company across the world has said that the Coronavirus pandemic had largely affected its business in India. It said that due to the coronavirus lockdown in the country it had to cut back on a lot of offerings in India and only deliver essential goods. Now, all the e-commerce companies are delivering everything including non-essential items. However, many sellers who faced a tough time in the initial days of lockdown are still waiting to resume their services.

Permanent closures increasing

A recent Yelp show reported that business closures due to the COVID-19 lockdown which was thought as temporary have started to increasingly become permanent. A Yelp report recently found out that permanent closures between March 1 to July 10 accounts for 55 per cent of all businesses. It also said that the recent data shows a jump from June as only 41 per cent of the businesses experienced permanent closures till June.

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