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Downsizings, May/2001
[Commentary] ©2001 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Square, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080

5/31/2001  5 more downsizings cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG), totaling 3,919 lost jobs (not counting 40 jobcuts per "MarketWatch.com to cut over 15 pct of jobs," by Derek Caney, Reuters 12:23 05-30-01 via AOLNews via RadioTony) -

1. 3,000 job cuts are set by Roche Holding AG over next 2-3 years in N.J., Cal., England, & Switzerland, NYT, W1.
2. Computer retailer CompUSA to eliminate 700 jobs, 4% of its workforce, as it refocuses from individual to corporate customers, AP via NYT, C6. [So, from "b2c" = business to consumer, to "b2b" = business to business.]
3. American Skiing to sell Steamboat Resort, cut 70 jobs and convert 160 others to seasonal jobs, AP via NYT, C4. [So, say 160 converted from full to half time and therefore 80 full-time equivalent jobs are lost, giving us a total job loss of 70+80= 150 jobcuts.]
4. Changes at 2 agencies to mean some layoffs - Saatchi & Saatchi to close its San Francisco office as of Aug. 1 affecting 60 employees, by Stuart Elliott, NYT, C7.
5. Changes at 2 agencies to mean some layoffs - Martin Agency will lay off 9 as it transfers Martin Interactive units operations to New York, by Stuart Elliott, NYT, C7.

1. Isuzu Motors moves to cut losses, plans to shed 9,700 workers (25%) in Japan mainly through hiring freeze, attrition & early retirement, by Miki Tanikawa, NYT, W7.
2. Supervalu to close 30 Cub Food and Laneco stores within next 30-60 days, affecting 2,250 workers in Pa., N.J. & Ind., but raise square footage, AP via NYT, C4.
3. EMC will lay off 1,100 U.S. workers (5%), by Ross Kerber, BG, C1.
   [Or you can try to find this news in the NYT - hint: "Sun Microsystems reduces expectations about earnings," C6.]
4. FleetBoston Bank acknowledges layoffs took place in Waltham, Mass. - 70 employees laid off, by Jerry Ackerman, BG, C9.
5. Korn/Ferry International lays off 3 in Boston office, by Scott Nelson, BG, C9.

• Unresolved clash of cultures - At Knight Ridder, good journalism vs. the bottom line - Circulation and ad revenue are both declining, by Felicity Barringer, NYT, C1.
  ...While reporters were concerned about how the company would go from 22,000 to 20,000 employees, their questions cut deeper than that. "It doesn't seem like the commitment is there to allow us to do our jobs," Jim Houston, a long-time reporter...complained.... The doubts reflected a fundamental and still unresolved clash of coporate cultures that has haunted Knight Ridder, based in San Jose, Calif., since two very different companies merged nearly 27 years ago....
  [So, 2,000 jobcuts or 9% of all 32 company newspapers, or 10% of "just about all" -]
  Knight Ridder has ordered 10% across-the-board reductions from just about all of the 32 company newspapers. And those cuts, [CEO Tony] Ridder told analysts...will be permanent. In the past, Knight Ridder reduced its staff in bad times, but "then started adding people back in again," Mr. Ridder said. "We don't plan to do that this time. We're going to operate with a lower number of people."
  Yet for all his efforts to satisfy Wall Street's demands, Knight Ridder's stock has trailed most of its peers....
  [Could there have been a better illustration of Dave Barry's scathing skewering of what's become of the American newspaper industry? And just two days later, too. See "Read it and weep," by Dave Barry on our goodnews pages, 5/27/2001, 2nd item.]

• Dot-com shuttered; staff left unpaid - Ex-Viasec workers seeking legal help, by Diane Lewis, BG, G1.
  ...In February..\..Viasec Inc., the Boston subsidiary of an Irish firm...joined the wave of dot-com blowouts that have swept the nation in recent months, and shut down suddenly. Gerry McDevitt, finance director for the parent company, Viasec Ltld. of Donegal, Ireland, later told the Irish Times that it had run out of funds and was forced to close all its subsidiaries, including the Boston office. The shutdown left 50 workers around the world without jobs....

1. Boeing will lay off 600 workers in Long Beach, California (12%), as part of a drive to trim costs, Reuters via NYT, B3.
2. Trading floor's final day at Pacific Stock Exchange, where once there had been hundreds of traders [estimate 300], Reuters via NYT, B4.
3. 85 take buyouts at ABC News as Disney pares expenses, by Jim Rutenberg, NYT, B4.
4. Cold Metal Products Inc. will close its processing center plant in New Britain, Conn. and dismiss 80 workers because of slumping demand, NYT, B3.
5. London - Reuters Group to cut unspecified number of senior jobs, Bloomberg via NYT, B2.

1. Teradyne electronic components lays off another 400 workers from a N.H. division amid slumping demand, by Ross Kerber, BG, C3.
2. Ezenia software firing 100 in Mass., Bloomberg via BG, C5.
3. Shops across the nation are laying people off - Avenue A interactive ad services in Seattle is dismissing 75 people (20%) across all divisions, Bloomberg via NYT, C6.
4. Shops...laying people off - Jack Morton Worldwide in NYC dismissed 70 employees (6%) in domestic operations, by Bernard Stamler, NYT, C6.
5. Shops...laying people off - Draft Worldwide letting go 33 staff members at NY office, by Bernard Stamler, NYT, C6.
6. Shops...laying people off - TBWA/Chiat/Day dismissed 17 employees (6.5%) at its NY offices, by Bernard Stamler, NYT, C6.
7. Shops...laying people off - Rapp Collins Worldwide, dismissed 6 employees (1.5%) at its Chicago office, by Bernard Stamler, NYT, C6.

1. Glenayre Technologies to cut 55% of work force and shut unit, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...A maker of wreless-communications equipment [will] eliminate about 700 jobs...and shut its wireless-messaging unit. The cuts will be made over the next two quarters and affect the company's entire Santa Clara, Calif., workforce, 95% of its employees in Vancouver, BC, and 55% in Quincy, Ill.... Glenayre, which is based in Charlotte, NC, will exit wireless messaging within the next year....

2. EBT International shutting down, Bloomberg via BG, E9.
   ...[A maker of] software for Internet commerce said its board voted to dissolve the company after [it] failed to sell itself, and sales fell.... EBT had 332 employees as of January 2000, according to Bloomberg News data. Based in Providence, RI, EBT has begun laying off the majority of its employees and selling assets....

3. Fedex eliminating 130 jobs in Austin, Tex., area, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...as it reorganizes a unit and ends a contract to manage warehouses for the Dell Computer Corp. The move at the delivery company's FedEx Supply Chain Services unit comes after about 120 job cuts last month at the unit's centers in Calif., Col., NC, and Ohio.
   [Giving us a total of 130+120= 250 jobcuts.]
   The Texas jobs will end between May 31 and July 31, according to documents filed at the Texas Workforce Commission. FedEx decided the supply chain unit would no longer oversee warehouses for clients. Many of the employees in the Austin area who will lose their jobs will be hired by the Eagle Global Logistics unit of EGL, which is taking over the Dell contract, FedEx said.

4. Investment banking loses 150 workers in Goldman Sachs job cuts, Bloomberg via NYT, C3.
   The job cuts at the Goldman Sachs Group include nearly 12% of its investment banking employees, the firm said yesterday [including] managing directors, vice presidents and associates.... The reductions are part of Goldman's previously announced decision to reduce its workforce by about 5%.... Many of the 150 bankers have already left....
   The cutbacks come after Goldman added 7,200 people last year.....Goldman had 22,627 employees at the end of 2000, up from about 13,000 in 1998. The layoffs are a sign that Goldman does not expect the underwriting and mergers business to return to the record levels of 1999 and early 2000.... Rivals like Merrill Lynch & Co., which are eliminating more than 10,000 jobs, may cut even deeper. The layoffs are "accelerating, not slowing down," said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger Gray & Christmas, an outplacement firm in Chicago. "Other firms look to Goldman for signals of what to expect."

5. CTS to cut more jobs as earnings forecast is lowered, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...A maker of components for cellular phones and communications equipment...based in Elkhart, Ind. \will\ cut an unspecified number of jobs, and lowered its forecast for its profit for the second quarter and for 2001. The job cuts cuts will come on top of a 19% reduction the company made in its work force in the first quarter.
   [Of course, nothing in the whole squib gives us any indication whatsoever of what the absolute numbers are here.]

5/19/2001  4 downsizings cited in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG), totaling 1,400 lost jobs (not counting 587 other cuts reported in "Chinadotcom slashes 500 jobs as cost cuts continue" (Reuters) and "Knight Ridder paper [Contra Costa Times] to cut staff [87 jobs or 7%]" (AP), both 5-18-01 via AOLNews via RadioTony) -

• Mpower Communications planning to cut 275 jobs, AP via NYT, B3.
  ...A provider of broadband high-speed Internet access and telephone services to businesses [will] cut...about 13% of its work force and close operations in 12 markets...to help Mpower post operating earnings by the end of next year without more financing. The moves leave Mpower, based in Pittsford, NY, with a presence in 28 markets....

1. Alamac Knits plans to close 2 plants [in N.C.] and cut 1,000 jobs, AP via NYT, C4.
2. Newspapers plan more cuts as their ad revenues fall - The Miami Herald announced [180] job cuts this week, by Felicity Barringer, NYT, C2. [Overall figure taken from "Miami Herald to lay off 10% [180] of work force," Reuters 5/17 via AOLNews via RadioTony.]
3. Newspapers plan more cuts...- [120] cutbacks [at] The San Jose Mercury News, by Felicity Barringer, NYT, C2. [Overall figure taken from "not counting" section below on 5/16.]
4. Newspapers plan more cuts... - USA Today is laying off [100] including first-ever journalist layoffs [- 6 out of a newsroom of 435 plus 7 usatoday.com'ers], by Felicity Barringer, NYT, C2. [Overall figure taken from "not counting" section below on 5/16.]

1. Cutbacks at computer parts maker - APW cut 2,500 jobs (20%) & will close up to 8 of its 51 mfg plants within 15 months as demand slows, Bloomberg via NYT, C5.
2. Etc. - GenTek Inc. plans to trim 12% of its workforce, or 1,300 employees, Globe staff & wire services, BG, C8.
3. FleetBoston to lay off 750, by Scott Nelson, BG, C8.
4. Motorola cuts 600 jobs in Mexico, Reuters via NYT, C5.
5. Comair laying off 400 more nonstrikers, AP via NYT, C4.
6. Hyperion Solutions cuts staff 15% (400 layoffs), by Laurie Flynn, NYT, C5.
7. Layoff at agencies; economy is cited - McCann-Erickson Worldwide Advertising in NYC laid off 35-40 employees (3%), by Bernard Stamler, NYT, C6.
8. Layoff at agencies; economy is cited - Frankel in Chicago laid off 30 employees (4.5%), by Bernard Stamler, NYT, C6.

1. EGL, a global freight company whose customers have been hurt by a slow economy, to lay off 950 US workers (15%), Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
2. KeyCorp to lay off 900 in 2001, meeting personnel goal, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
3. Judge closes down tax-advice company with 540 employees - Assets ordered frozen as Kansas ruling finds a pyramid scheme - Company's names include Tax People, Renaissance/the Tax People, and TheTaxPeople.net, by David Johnston, NYT, C4.
4. Australia: Wireless job cuts - Vodafone Australia will lay off about 365 people (12%), by Becky Gaylord, NYT, W1.
5. Brown lungs, lost fingers; now, a lost mill - 197 job losses at Union Yarn Mill in Jacksonville, Ala., by Rick Bragg, NYT, front page.
6. Etc. - Artificial Life Inc. of Boston plans to reduce its workforce by 165 full-time workers (60%), Globe staff and wire services, BG, D7.
7. Etc. - New England Business Services Inc. will reduce its work force by 118 (3%), Globe staff and wire services, BG, D7. [The additional figures were found in "New England Business Services to cut jobs, close Utah plant," Bloomberg May/15/2001 21:04 ET via AOLNews.]
8. Etc. - Mass. Mutual Life Insurance Co. will close 60-employee Denver call center by Aug. 31, Globe staff and wire services, BG, D7.

1. Agency.com [Internet consulting] to cut 350 jobs [25%] as losses widen, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
2. Avaya [corporate phone equipment] lays off 220 workers at Omaha cable plant, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
3. Booz-Allen & Hamilton to lay off 95 consultants, by Jonathan Glater, NYT, C4.
4. Etc. - FairMarket Inc. of Woburn cut 40 jobs and will close its Australian office, Globe staff and wire services, BG, E10.

• Reprising a classic end, HAL Computer [Systems] perishes, by Laurie Flynn, NYT, C4.
  ...The research unit is expected to be shut down entirely by the fall. \It\ has shut down its Web site and has laid off or relocated its staff, citing falling demand for large mainframe technology, stifling competition from IBM and Sun Microsystems and a reorganization within its parent company in Tokyo, Fujitsu....
  [The lethal takeover-downsizing connection.]
  Roughly 30% of HAL's 300 or so employees have transferred to other Fujitsu divisions.
  [So presumably the remaining 70%, or 210 employees, have lost or will lose their jobs. Presumably of the 30% survivors...] Some will continue to work on HAL's products, while others have moved into the company's new server and storage company, Fujitsu Technology Systems....
  

1. Teligent lays off nearly 40% of work force, Bloomberg via NYT, B3.
   The telecommunications company...based in Vienna, Va..\..laid off 900 workers...ahead of a debt payment deadline next week that requires it to obtain $350m in financing.... The layoffs...leave Teligent...with about 1,400 employees, down from a high of 3,400 a year ago....

2. StarMedia [Network], an Internet company, set to cut 200 jobs, Bloomberg via NYT, B3.
   ...An Internet company that aims at Latin American customers [will] eliminate about...25% of its work force [of 800 full-time employees], and had a narrower first-quarter loss....

1. South Africa: [Gold Fields Ltd.'s St. Helena] gold mine to close, [affecting 3,600 workers (6.5% of workforce)], Bloomberg via NYT, W1.
   ...after falling gold prices caused profit to decline 14% in the third quarter....
2. Siemens to cut 2,000 jobs, AP via NYT, C4.
   ...in its information and communications networks division on top of 3,500 layoffs announced two weeks ago [bringing] the total job reductions announced in recent weeks at the company, the world's No. 3 mobile phone producer, to 8,100, or about 1.7% of its global workforce.
3. Substantial cutbacks for 2 big agencies [- e.g., Temerlin McClain in Tex. is laying off 102 employees, or 20%], by Stuart Elliott, NYT, C5.
4. Substantial cutbacks for 2 big agencies [- e.g., Lowe Lintas & Partners' US division is closing its 27-employee San Francisco office and laying off 18 (2.4%) at its NYC office for a total of 45 jobcuts], by Stuart Elliott, NYT, C5.
   [From "Agencies close unit and make layoffs," by Jane Levere, 7/19/2001 NYT, C6, we learn that these 45 jobcuts are 6% of its staff of 700.]
5. [Boston] Globe to cease publishing N.H. section [involving 9 full-time staffers], BG, E3.

1. Comdisco cuts 250 more jobs, or 10% of work force [having laid off 96 in January and eliminated 350 when it shut down Prism Communications - Overall totalling 250+96+350= 696 layoffs], AP via NYT, C4.
2. Web site manager [Exodus Communications] cuts [675] jobs [or 15%, after reductions in spending by customers led to wider losses last quarter], by Simon Romero, NYT, C7.
3. Nabisco to close [Triscuit] plant at Niagara Falls, N.Y. [affecting 200 employees and ending a 100-year relationship with the city that began with production of Shredded Wheat in 1901, which continued until 1993], AP via NYT, C4.

1. National Semiconductor cuts [1,100] jobs, [10% of workforce, as orders slump], Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   [They say 1,000 in the headline and 1,100 in the article, so by the scribal principle of "legius difficilior potest" (the more difficult reading prevails), we'll go with the 1,100.]
2. Merrill's assets unit, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, is cutting work force [by 4500-3600= 900 (20%) by year's end, slicing costs as revenue declines], Bloomberg via NYT, C17.
3. Spain: [500] layoffs (15%) at Internet service, [TerraLycos, although it narrowed its first-quarter loss], by Emma Daly, NYT, W1.
4. Fab Industries, maker of textiles, will shut 2 factories [and eliminate about 150 jobs (15%) to cut costs], Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
5. FCB Worldwide is planning [100 US] layoffs, by Stuart Elliott, NYT, C2.
   ...And at one office, the fire department is investigating a fire that occurred along with the layoffs.... The fire broke out in a conference room on May 3, when the layoffs took place there. No one was injured.
   [Hmm.]
6. Financial troubles close health care survey firm [- Last fall, Boston's Picker Institute had 50 staffers], by Larry Tye, BG, F2.
7. eYak Inc. to rename to Sonexis after acquiring Brooktrout Software [- Has decided to abandon focus on low-cost teleconferencing, laying off 40 employees], BG, F10.

1. Dell to cut up to 4,000 jobs [10%, mostly in central Texas, to increase] market share, by Richard Oppel, NYT, C8. [How in the world does disemploying 4000 of your best customers "increase market share"?]
2. 3Com plans to cut 28% [3000] of its workers - [the Calif.] company hopes to save $1B in an effort to restore profits - Slimming down in an attempt to focus on core products, by Chris Gaither, NYT, C6.
   
3. Contraction in high-tech manufacturing leads to scaling back, layoffs in state [- e.g., PRI Automation is laying off nearly 20% (375) of its workforce in Mass.], by Kimberly Blanton, BG, E2.
   
4. Storage concerns agree to merge [- Network Peripherals will close Fremont, Calif., HQ leaving about 120 employees without jobs], AP via NYT, C2.
   
5. AT&T Broadband confirms [100 Mass.] layoffs, by Peter Howe, NYT, E2.
   
6. Contraction in high-tech manufacturing leads to scaling back, layoffs in state [- e.g., in early May, Astral Point Communications laid off 45 people in Mass.], by Kimberly Blanton, BG, E2.
   

• Dupont Photomasks Inc., NYT, B3.
  ...Round Rock, Tex., which makes components used in the production of semiconductors, [will] close a manufacturing plant in Hamilton, Scotland, to save $2.5m a year.

1. Newell Rubbermaid to trim 3,000 jobs [6%, hurt by weakened global economy and resulting retail slowdown], AP via NYT, C3.

2. Genuity loss widens, [so 800 jobcuts, or 12%], Bloomberg via NYT, C3.

3. Internet used-car seller [iMotor.com], closes down [for lack of capital, 700 US employees adrift], by David Barboza, NYT, C3.

4. Irish developer [Iona Technologies] plans 175 layoffs [15%, as it integrates takeovers like NetFish Technologies on 2/16], Bloomberg via NYT, C3.

5. iEmily.com to close, [lacking sponsorship or advertisers, so last 5 of high of 30 employees lost Mass. jobs], by Jerry Ackerman, BG, D5.

1. Chemical company [Rohm & Haas Co.] to lay off up to 1,260 people, Bloomberg via NYT, C3.
   ...to cut costs and make the company...more productive [because the firm] has been hurt by declining sales as the economy has slowed..\.. Some of the job reductions will be tied to plant closings in Calif. and Miss....

2. Campbell Soup Co., NYT, C3.
   ...Camden, NJ, said that its Arnott's biscuit unit in Australia would close it Melbourne plant in September 2002.
   [...with unspecified jobcuts.]

1. Dow Chemical to cut 4,500 US jobs [8%], doubling an estimate, AP via NYT, C4.
   ...The job cuts mean the elimination of as many as 500 jobs at the former Union Carbide headquarters in Danbury, Conn.
2. Nextel cuts 800 US jobs [5%] as loss widens, by Simon Romero, NYT, C4.
   
3. Newmont Mining, post merger, to cut work force by 5% [158] after cutting 150 jobs in Q1 [totaling 308], Reuters via NYT, C13.
   
4. Loudcloud ISP cuts 122 Calif. jobs [19%], AP via NYT, C5.
   
5. SoftLock.com fires 90% [39] of work force in Mass., Bloomberg via BG, C7.
   

1. Goodyear cuts jobs in Mexico - Delphi Automotive Systems has eliminated 8,000 Mexican jobs the last year, by Graham Gori, NYT, W1.
2. Goodyear cuts jobs in Mexico - Chrysler is planning to close 3 plants & may cut up to 2,500 Mexican jobs, by Graham Gori, NYT, W1.
3. Goodyear cuts 1,357 jobs in Mexico - In first 3 months of 2001, 240,000 mainly mfg Mexican jobs were eliminated or scaled back, by Graham Gori, NYT, W1.
4. Goodyear cuts jobs in Mexico - Grupo Saltillo has laid off 450 people in 5 months, by Graham Gori, NYT, W1.
5. Comverse, maker of software, will eliminate 400 jobs [6% of 6400] because of economic slowdown, AP via NYT, C4.
6. Excite@Home cutting work force 13%, or 380 workers, Reuters via NYT, C4.
7. Etc. - At Comm Corp. fired 150 workers in Calif. & N.H., Globe staff & wire services, BG, D6.
8. Etc. - Atlantic Data Services Inc. of Mass. will eliminate 37 jobs, or 24%, Globe staff & wire services, BG, D6.
9. National, local circulation down slightly at most newspapers - After NYT, next 4 largest newspapers - LA Times, Wash. Post, NY Daily News [20 layoffs], Chicago Tribune - all posted declines, AP via BG, D4 & via AOLNews via RadioTony.

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