Timesizing® Associates - HOMEPAGE

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Downsizings, July 16-31, 2001
[Commentary] ©2001 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Square, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080

7/31/2001  2 downsizings reported in NY Times (NYT) & Boston Globe (BG), with unspecified jobcuts (not counting "Los Angeles Times to lay off 1,570 [part-time] workers," Reuters 20:29 07-30-01 via AOLNews via RadioTony) -

1. PanAmSat to cut work force, Bloomberg via NYT, C2.
   ...The largest commercial-satellite operator plans to cut an undisclosed number of employees and has moved its headquarters to Wilton, Conn. as part of a plan to consolidate operations. The company expects to complete staff cuts in the U.S. and abroad by Aug. 31.... Some employees have been offered severance packages.... The company has been hurt by lower spending by telecom companies that lease space on its satellite.
   [Unspecified cuts. Futuristic technology design without futuristic corporation design. PanAmSat should be cutting hours a little for all its employees and keeping everyone employed and secure, instead of cutting jobs completely for a few and demoralizing everyone. Timesizing, not downsizing.]

2. Harcourt online college to close, AP via BG, D4.
   Harcourt Higher Education, which launched a much-ballyhooed online college in Massachusetts last year, is shutting down this fall. The decision...was made by Canada-based Thomson Corp., after Reed Elsevier, a Dutch-Anglo publisher of textbooks and medical books, bought Harcourt General Inc., then sold several of its subsidiaries, including Harcourt Higher Education, to Thomson last autumn....
   [Unspecified cuts. Again, the fatal takeover-closure connection. Note our uncounted 250 cuts by Harcourt General below on 7/18.]

1. 2 more agencies decide to end operations - E.g., Beiderman Kelly Krimstein & Partners closes in NYC, by Bernard Stamler, NYT, C11.
   ...effective Tuesday, for what the agency's news release described as "changing business plans.... According to the Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies, the agency had about 48 employees....

2. 2 more agencies decide to end operations - E.g., Pagano Schenk & Kay closed in Boston, by Bernard Stamler, NYT, C11.
   ...about a month ago. At closing, Pagano Schenk had about 20 employees....

1. Japan: Fujitsu's loss grows, Bloomberg via NYT, B3.
   The electronics manufacturer said it lost $448m in its first quarter, up from a loss of $107.6m a year earlier and it quadrupled its projected loss for the year.... The company said about 9,000 of its 42,000 employees are eligible for an early retirement program it recently announced, but did not say how many positions would be cut.
   [As is our wont, we'll estimate 50% and call this a cut of 4,500 or 10.7%.]

2. Germany: Bank cuts jobs, Bloomberg via NYT, B3.
   Dresdner Bank [will] cut about 1,500 jobs in a restructuring of its investment banking and corporate clients business and said the operation would focus on Europe.
   [Smart to focus on Europe. Europe is centrifuging a little more of its spending power out to where it actually gets spent - by cutting worktime with long vacations and shorter workweeks. The US, UK and Japan are trashing themselves with obsoletely long workweeks and short vacations, thereby disempowering their general workforce at the bargaining table, stagnating their wages, and flattening their domestic spending and markets. Europe will muddle through, but the "dunce belt" = US-UK-Japan, will continue to sink indefinitely until their "can't see the obvious" economists start spreading the vanishing work - and spending power.]

3. American Home Products to cut generic drug business, Bloomberg via NYT, B3.
   ...generic pill and capsule business, cutting 240 jobs, and is considering selling its line of generics delivered by injection....
   [AHP execs obviously need an injection of brains. Every rich rube and his brother is trying to focus on the luxury markets - but the rich just don't have time to spend it all and support them all.]
   American Home is eliminating 225 jobs at Pearl River, NY, and another 15 jobs at unspecified sites....
   [Plus it's slitting its own and everyone else's throat by downsizing despite profit -]
   The company, which this week reported that second-quarter profit rose 16%, said it was scaling back on generics to concentrate on faster-growing and more profitable brand-name drugs....
   [Ah the new American way - health for the rich, period.]

4. Lotus to lay off 200 more, Bloomberg via NYT, B3.
   ...victims of the economic slowdown and an ongoing restructuring at the Cambridge software firm that will bind it more tightly to parent company IBM Corp. At the same time..\..Lotus Development Corp...is reducing its presence in Cambridge MA, in a quest for cheaper real estate....

1. Alcatel reports a profit but plans more job cuts, by John Tagliabue, NYT, W1.
   PARIS...- Alcatel, joining other telecomm-equipment makers worldwide, [will] pare its workforce by about 18% this year to reduce operating costs, even as it posted an operating profit of...about $120m in the second quarter.
   [This is the type of corporate behavior that most efficiently deepens downturn for all companies, including themselves.]
   The company, which earlier this month outlined plans to shed 3,500 jobs,...now intend[s] to lay off 20,000 of its 110,000 workers by the end of the year. Alcatel said its goal was to reduce its operating expenses by...about $882m....
   [We've already counted 8100 Alcatel jobcuts (7/10), so all we get to count now are 20,000-8100= 11,900 jobcuts.]

2. A onetime favorite takes a record loss, pointer blowout (to C1), NYT, front page.
   JDS Uniphase, a leading maker of components for telecomm networks, reported a $44.8B write-off of the value of companies it acquired during two years of rapid growth. It was believed to be the largest loss in business history.
   [What more evidence do we need of the stupidity of mergers and acquisitions?]
   ...The company also reported that business had slowed even more than previously projected.
   [- largely as a direct and indirect result of its own and others' consolidation practices. These moronic CEOs, who evidently can't think more than two moves ahead in business chess, adopt suicidal "strategies" and then act surprised when the damage appears.]
   The company said that it would lay off 7,000 more workers in addition to the 9,000 already laid off this year and that its advice to Wall Street last month that it would record $450m in revenue in the current quarter was too optimistic....
   [...for a total of 7000+9000= 16,000 cuts, of which we've so far counted 3000 on 2/28 #1, 5000 on 4/25 #2, and unspecified on 6/28 #6, totaling 8000 cuts that we counted, meaning we have yet to count 16000-8000= 8,000 more jobcuts. Now supposing the 5000 cut on 4/25 really was 20% and the total workforce prior to that really was 25,000, the 5000 cut would bring it down to 20,000 and the cut on 6/28 would have brought it down to 19,000. Therefore, the 8000 cuts we're counting today would be a (8000/19,000x100%=) 42% cut. Clearly if they keep this up, they're soon going to be invisible.]

3. Hewlett-Packard [HP] to reduce work force by 6,000 - A consumer-dependent company sees no upturn soon, by Matt Richtel, NYT, C2.
   ...A bellwether of consumer spending said today...that its revenue for the current quarter would be markedly lower than expected, with the company attributing the changes to further deteriorations of economic conditions worldwide.... Carleton S. Fiorina, the [female] CEO... attributed the shortfall mostly to consumer spending, which she said is weak in "all geographies around the world." "There are no exceptions," she said, asserting that consumer spending "has taken another ratchet down." The company's shares fell....
   [Well, Carly, there are unfortunately always exceptions. Just run your eyes down the Company News column in any Tues- Sat NY Times. Recession and depression never come upon us consistently or exceptionlessly. If they did, all our top-executive cheerleaders like yourself would "get it" early enough to knock off the consolidation and downsizing - even lobby for legislative bans - and arrest further acceleration into the death spiral. In today's Company News, for example, we have "Saf-T-Hammer, Scottsdale, Ariz., said its subsidiary, Smith & Wesson...had reached a three-year agreement with Remington Arms Corp...to make parts for some of Remington's Centerfire brand rifles," bespeaking no consumer spending shortfall in weapons. Yesterday, we had "Boston Scientific invests in Endotex, a maker of stents," indicating no consumer spending shortfall in clogged human arteries, and also "Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co...won a 10-year contract to supply tires for the U.S. Postal Service fleet of 200,000 delivery vehicles" and "BAE Systems PLC, Farnborough, England...said the US Navy had awarded it a $148.7m contract for radio engineering and support work," indicating that the US P.O. and Navy are bumbling on regardless.]

4. British Telecommunications goes into red for the quarter - High interest payments and losses in mobile phones outweigh the gains, by Suzanne Kapner via NYT, W1.
   ...BT also is suffering from problems at Concert, a joint venture it operates with AT&T.... The companies are looking to stem the decline by revamping, selling or closing the business. "It is our highest priority," said Michael Wadley, a BT spokesman.... The company was also making progress in controlling costs, eliminating some 6,000 jobs, or 4.5% of its workforce, this year.
   [Well, that'll control your costs all right, and also your markets.]

5. Germany: Chip maker cuts jobs, AP via NYT, W1.
   ...Infineon Technologies AG [will] cut 5,000 jobs, or about 14.2% of its workforce, to save money amid global weakness in the technology sector.... The job cuts will be made over the next 12-18 months.... "The dramatic market developments and our resulting business situation leave us no other choice," Infineon's CEO, Ulrich Schumacher, said.
   [What poppycock! Was für ein Dummkopf ist unser Herr Schumacher! He has only to look over at Deutschland's largest auto manufacturer for a much smarter choice, Volkswagen. He should be cutting 14.2% of his workweek instead of his workforce and his best markets and marketers (his own employees), just as VW cut 18% of their workweek in 1993 to save 30,000 jobs and their HQ town of Wolfsburg. There's always another choice besides slow suicide.]

6. Avaya plans more job cuts, by Simon Romero, NYT, C2.
   ...The maker of telephone equipment for businesses...which is based in Basking Ridge, NJ \will\ cut an additional 2,000 jobs, adding to 3,000 cuts it announced last month.... Revenue in the most recent quarter fell 10%.... Avaya, which was spun off from Lucent Technologies last year, will have 23,000 employees after the latest round of cuts....
   [All we've got on Avaya is 220 cuts on 5/15, so we're going to count all 2000+3000= 5,000 cuts mentioned here now.]

7. RealNetworks fires 15% of work force, Bloomberg via BG, C2.
   ...Maker of the most popular media player software fired about 140 workers, or 15% of its staff, after sales declined because economic growth slowed and Internet clients went out of business. RealNetworks will provide the fired workers with 6-15 weeks of severance pay, depending on how long they worked at the Seattle company, and pay their health insurance through October.... Shares rose....

8. Gruntal closes its corporate bond trading business, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   [Gruntal and its arch rival, Disgruntal.]
   Gruntal & Co., one of the last remaining independent brokerage firms in the nation...closed its investment-grade corporate bond trading business and eliminated about 30 jobs. Gruntal is the latest in a string of securities firms to cut jobs amid a slowdown in the investment banking business....

1. Corning reports $4.76B loss, citing write-offs - A company hurt by a changing mix of the industry as fiber demand slows, by David Leonhardt, NYT, C5.
   Corning Inc. became the latest member of the billion-dollar [loss] club yesterday, joining Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks in reporting at least a 10-digit loss in the second quarter.... Corning said earlier this month that it would suspend its dividend to shareholders for the first time since 1880. Executives have also announced almost 6,000 layoffs, most of which are in the United States and have already been made....
   [We've already counted 350 (see 2/17 #3) plus 1000 (see 4/27 #3) plus 1000 more (see 7/10 #5), so now we'll just count 6000-2350= 3,650 jobcuts, which, of their original workforce of 40,000, is 9%.]

2. In loss, DuPont to cut jobs, Reuters via NYT, C15.
   ...E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., as it is formally known, posted a net loss of $213m...in contrast to net income of $688m...in the period a year earlier..\.. DuPont, which is based in Wilmington, Del., increased its planned job cuts by 1,500, to 5,500 workers, or 6% of its work force. An additional 1,300 contract workers will also be laid off, as previously announced, as the company combats high energy costs, a strong dollar and weak demand for its products....
   [We picked up the previously announced 4000+1300 on 4/03.]

3. Spain: Bank's profit is up, Bloomberg via NYT, W1.
   The largest bank in Spain and Latin America, Banco Santander Central Hispano, said 2nd quarter profit rose 30% as it trimmed costs nad its Brazilian operation began contributing to profit.... In Latin America, where a possible Argentine debt default and an economic slowdown threaten profit, Banco Santander reduced its work force 10% to 67,000 this year....
   [So it reduced a workforce of 74,444 by 7,444 to 67,000. But we've already counted 6,000 of these cuts (4/19) so we'll just count 1,444 now.]
   In Spain...the bank plans to shut 1,000 of its 5,000 branches.
   [We counted this event on 6/27 (10th item) but we still haven't heard how many jobcuts this involves in Spain.]

4. More jobs cut at i2 Technologies, by Andrew Zipern, NYT, C4.
   ...A maker of b2b software [will] cut 587 jobs, or 10% of its staff, leaving the company with about 5,300 employees. Last week, the company reported a quarterly loss of $861m and warned that more cuts lay ahead. i2 has now cut more than 1,000 jobs since it announced revamping plans earlier this year. The job cuts will focus on i2's sales force...
   [brilliant - talk about a death wish!]
   ...but will affect all areas of the company.... The second-most heavily traded stock on Nasdaq, i2 dropped....
   [We previously picked up their intention to cut 600 jobs on 4/03 #4. We're going to assume the total cuts are going to be 1,187 and they still have 187 to go beyond the 1000 already done.]

5. Bethlehem Steel reports a loss of $1.13B, AP via NYT, C15.
   BETHLEHEM, Pa. - ...The company attributed the loss to a 9% drop in steel prices, a 100,000-ton reduction in shipments and a $3.4m in charges mainly related to the closing in June of Metal Site, an Internet marketplace for steel in which the company had invested.... The company...said last week that in an increasingly challenging market, it was more than doubling the number of salaried positions under a restructuring plan that had been announced in May. The reductions, to be completed by the end of August, will reduce salaried employees by 11%, to about 2,500, from 3,500 in 1999. The company has about 10,000 nonsalaried employees.
   [We picked up this 11% reduction (300 jobcuts) below on 7/20 but only as an uncounted item from AP. So we'll count it now.]

6. Well-known agency to close after 62 years, by Allison Fass, NYT, C6.
   ...Wilder D. Baker \of\ Warwick Baker O'Neill [of] New York...announced the closing, effective on Aug. 3, to the agency's estimated 55 employees and remaining clients. ...The decision was attributed to the recent bankruptcy of clients like Fruit of the Loom [note the domino effect] and [the loss of] several accounts recently [such as] Panasonic electric shaver account and the East Coast Energy Council....

1. Still in free fall, Lucent plans to cut 20,000 more jobs, pointer blowout (to C1), NYT, front page.
   ...announc[ing] a large loss and...continuing a downward spiral that will leave the company with far fewer than half the workers it employed only a year ago. The new cutbacks, along with about 75,000 jobs that are already being eliminated through layoffs, early retirement or corporate spinoffs, rank among the largest and fastest in the history of big American corporations. Lucent's workforce will total about 60,000 when the latest round of layoffs is completed in the next several months. That compares with 155,000 employees last year.
   [20,000/(60,000+20,000)= a 25% layoff on this last round. And the inside text (C17) says, "About one-third of the 20,000 newly announced cuts would be made overseas, with the remaining two-thirds in this country [USA]."]
   And even with the drastic measures announced yesterday...some analysts say there is no certainty that Lucent can find a way back to profitability. Lucent's plummet from a corporation at the pinnacle of the telecommunications boom of [the] late 1990's to one struggling to stay in business is a textbook example of what can happen when a stock-market bubble bursts.
   [1,450 of these 20,000 cuts happened two weeks later according to "Lucent Technologies plans to cut 550 jobs in France {and 900 jobs in Netherlands}," AP via 8/09/2001 NYT, C4.]

2. ABB, reporting lower profit, will cut 12,000 jobs, by Elizabeth Olson, NYT, W1.
   GENEVA - ...Europe's largest electrical engineering group [nee Asea Brown Boveri, we believe] reported a 21% drop [yester]day in half-year profit and said it would shed...8% of its workforce, to try to counter the global economic slowdown.... Shares...slid 18%.... At the end of June, ABB had 163,838 employees around the world.
   [Top-executive morons are still trying to "counter slowdowns" by fueling them. Top-executive "Dubya think" = markets without jobs. So the current total workforce running (declining) balance is 163838-12000= 151,838 souls.]

3. Britain: Reuters net falls, by Suzanne Kapner, NYT, W1.
   First-half profit at the Reuters Group fell 21%...
   [Wudda coincidence - same % as ABB!]
   ...the company said, adding that it would cut 1,340 jobs, or about 7% of its workforce, in the face of slowing economic growth.... Shares fell....

4. Snap-on will lay off about 560 worldwide to cut costs, AP via NYT, C4.
   The tool maker...will cut its staff by 4%...in a cost-cutting move after earnings dropped in the second quarter because of declining sales in North America and Europe. The company, which also makes diagnostic equipment, employs 14,000 people worldwide....

5. International Paper to close Iowa plant, dismissing 335, AP via NYT, C4.
   ...in Clinton, Iowa...the company, based in Stamford, Conn., said yesterday. The plant makes packaging for the food service industry, including McDonald's and Taco Bell.
   [Well if that means that robopathic McDonald's and tacky Taco Bell are also waning, could be a diversity-enhancing blessing in disguise.]
   Officials also cited the recent loss of a major beverage carrier customer...Anheuser-Busch.... The plant closing would bring jobcuts at IP this year to nearly 4,000.

6. MKS Instruments cuts work force, Bloomberg via BG, F9.
   ...[The maker of] gas measurement instruments...used in making semiconductors...cut 16% of its workforce because of falling demand. Iin addition to the job cuts, the company has reduced work weeks, lowered management salaries, and mandated vacation days, MKS said in a release.... Andover MA-based MKS's shares fell....
   [Unspecified jobcuts.]

1. K2 Inc., NYT, C4.
   ...Los Angeles, a maker of skis and snowboards [will] lay off 450 workers as it close[s] plants in Ala., Minn., and Wash., and shift[s] more manufacturing to China to reduce expenses.
   [A good economic feedback system would give this company an immediate drop in its American domestic markets.]

2. StorageNetworks to cut a third of its staff, by Isaac Baker, BG, C2.
   ...A provider of data storage services announced yesterday that it would cut 220 jobs...a day after the stock plummeted 30% on earnings warnings. [However] the Waltham MA company reported yesterday that second-quarter revenue had quadrupled, from $8m a year earlier to $33.4m.
   [Thus violating "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' Rationalization? -]
   Its net loss, however, remained at about $32m, or 33 cents a share, about equal to what it was in the same period last year. The company has not turned a profit since it offered shares to the public last year...
   [Does this mean that it turned a profit before it went public or just that there are no public records before that?]
   ...but CEO Peter Bell said the job cuts will help StorageNetworks meet its target of being profitable by the fourth quarter of 2002.... Bell said the job cuts, mostly in Waltham, would come in sales, marketing, and business development. The company will continue to add positions in engineering, software, and global operations....
   [So, more and more product and less and less market - sounds like our national formula for recession.]

3. Online stock firm cuts staff, by Patrick McGeehan, NYT, C2.
   W. R. Hambrecht & Co., [a] three-year-old San Francisco firm \and\ one of the few remaining online investment banks, dismissed 45 employees, or about 20% of its staff, this week.... About 30 of the people dismissed were stock traders....
   [Does this mean they weren't earning they're salaries? Otherwise no excuse for these dismissals.]

4. 2 local start-ups planning layoffs, by Peter Howe, BG, C4.
   Two [NE] area telecommunications start-ups...separately said they are each laying off more than 20% of their staffs to cope with the telecom spending slowdown and to control expenses to help land new capital investments..\.. Spike Broadband Systems of Nashua NH...is cutting about 40 [21%] of its 190 employees because it is shifting much of its manufacturing to outsourced contractors. About two-thirds of Spike's employees, and the same proportion of people being fired, are in Nashua, with the rest in Virginia, CEO Jim Zucco said.

5. 2 local start-ups planning layoffs, by Peter Howe, BG, C4.
   ...Gotham Networks of Acton MA...will lay off 35 [24%] of its 143 employees today....

1. American Express to cut jobs as junk bond losses mount, by Patrick McGeehan, NYT, C1.
   AmEx surprised investors yesterday by saying that it would eliminate as many as 5,000 jobs and take more than $1B in charges against its earnings by the end of this quarter. The job cuts would be the biggest that AmEx has taken in a decade and would come on top of the 1,600 jobs AmEx has already eliminated this year....
   [Well, we only picked up 100 (6/15) of these already eliminated 1600 and we didn't count them since they were in AP but not NYT or BG, so we're going to count all 5000+1600= 6,600 jobcuts now.]

2. Safeco to eliminate 10% of its jobs by the end of 2003, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   The property and casualty insurer [plans] to eliminate the jobs of 1,200 employees, or 10% of its work force, as it reorganizes its auto and home insurance unit.... The cuts, combined with previously announced plans to reorganize its commercial insurance lines, will...bring total planned job reductions to 1,650.... Half the job cuts would occur this year. Its shares rose....
   [We did pick up the other 450 cuts on 5/18 but since they were AP and not NYT or BG, we did not count them. So, we count all 1,650 jobcuts here. If 1200 is 10%, the total before the 1200 cut was 12,000 and the total before the 450 cut was 12,450. So the total 1650 cut is over 13% of the total workforce before all this year's cuts.]

3. Textron to cut 1,600 jobs; reports 11% drop in profit, AP via NYT, C4.
   ...A maker of helicopters, airplanes and industrial products...based in Providence RI \will\ cut an additional 1,600 jobs as it realigns.... The additional cuts will come from layoffs and attrition, bringing to 5,000 the number of jobs eliminated since last year....
   [We've already picked up 3500 (1/24) + 150 (7/03 below) of Textron cuts this year, which would bring the grand total to 1600+3500+150= 5250. But assuming downward rounding of the overall total motivated by damage control and invoking the ancient principle of textual criticism known as LEGIUS DIFFICILIOR POTEST (the more difficult reading prevails), we'll go with all 1600 cuts now. After all, Textron could easily have rounded this announcement at least down to 1500 if it weren't all there.]

4. Albertson's to close 165 stores in 25 states, AP via NYT, C4.
   The supermarket chain [plans to] eliminate up to 20% of its managerial and administrative jobs above the store level. As many as 1,000 jobs could be lost. The cuts are aimed at reducing operating costs as Albertson's struggles with its 1999 acquisition of American Stores....
   [Again, the suicidal aspect of acquisition.]
   Shares jumped....
   [So stock speculators are still stupid, rewarding the shrinking of employment and demand, as if the job market is based on the stock market and not vice versa.]
   The company, based in Boise, Idaho...said about 25% [of stores to be closed] would be stand-alone drugstores, which it operates under the Osco Drug and Sav-on names. It has 2,541 stores in 36 states.

5. Louisiana: Casino announces layoffs, by Lino Rodriguez, NYT, A6.
   Harrah's New Orleans Casino [is] laying off 148 employees, 5% of its workforce.... The decision comes just four months after the state granted a $50m tax break to help sustain the struggling casino.
   [What does that tell you about tax breaks for casinos, or indeed, tax breaks for anything besides the substitution of hours cuts for all instead of job cuts for a few, and a few more, and a few more....]

6. Eprise lays off 20% of workers, Bloomberg via BG, E7.
   ...A [developer of] software that helps companies manage information on their Web sites..\..eliminated 20% of its work force, or about 40 jobs, to reduce expenses. Eprise...is left with 160 workers....

7. Gensym plans cuts, Dow Jones via BG, E7.
   ...Burlington MA-based..\..Gensym Corp., citing economic conditions, plans to cut [23 jobs or] 15% of its workforce as it targets operational profitability in the third quarter. After the cuts, Gensym will have 130 employees worldwide.... Shares rose....

8. Agencies close unit and make layoffs, by Jane Levere via NYT, C6.
   One agency [Arnold Worldwide] is closing its design unit...Cipriani Kremer Design in Boston...on Dec. 31..\.. Arnold will try to find jobs at the agency for as many of the 18 full-time employees...as possible....

1. Royal Philips plans to cut 4,000 jobs - Company reports a 2nd-quarter loss, by Alan Cowell, NYT, W1.
   In a further sign of the slowdown cascading over Europe from the United States, Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherland's, the Continent's leading electronics manufacturer, [will] shed a further 4,000 jobs, bringing its total for the year to more than 10,000....
   [We caught 7000 from Philips on 4/18 so in fact the total for the year is now up to 11,000 jobcuts.]

2. Coke bottler to eliminate 2,000 jobs, by Michael Brick, NYT, C6.
   Coca-Cola Enterprises, the bottling company responsible for about 80% of Coca-Cola's soft drink sales in North America, will cut...3% of its work force....
   The company...reported a drop in its earnings for the second quarter that was larger than Wall Street's forecast....
   [Ah, the kamekazi tyranny of Wall Street - again.]
   Coca-Cola Enterprises has been losing a reverse price war with the Pepsi Bottling Group, which spun off from PepsiCo in the spring of 1998. Since then, the companies have toned down their battle for market share as defined by volume, concentrating instead on revenue per case. The winner, in speculators' [oops] investors' eyes, is the bottler with pricing power....

3. Merrill and Schwab say earnings show steep declines, by Patrick McGeehan, NYT, C1.
   ...Officials at Merrill, whose earnings fell 41%, [will] continue eliminating jobs and reducing costs.... Merrill, the firm with the most stockbrokers, already has reduced its worldwide staff by 3,800 jobs, or about 5%....
   [Well, we've already counted 900 (5/09) and 1000 (4/14), so now we'll just count 3800-(900+1000)= 1900 jobcuts.]

4. Newspaper concerns post lower earnings, AP via NYT, C6.
   ...Knight Ridder's earnings dropped 86% in the second quarter because of advertising declines, rising newsprint prices and employee severance costs.... The results included a $78.5m charge to pay for the elimination of 1,600 jobs at its 32 papers....

5. Merrill and Schwab say earnings show steep declines, by Patrick McGeehan, NYT, C1.
   ...At Schwab...earnings dropped 26%. [Officials] had no immediate plans to lay off more workers.... Schwab, the biggest online brokerage firm, has cut 3,900 jobs, or 15%....
   [Here, we've already counted 3400 (3/23), so now we'll just count 3900-3400= 500 jobcuts.]

6. Nicaragua: Coffee workers promised jobs, AP via NYT, A6.
   Hoping to persuade about 500 coffee workers to head home, the government offered temporary jobs to migrants who had headed north after their farms were hit by falling coffee prices.... The workers, from San Ramon, Tuma and La Dalia, live in a shantytown in Matagalpa where some children received some food, but officials said others had begged in the streets.

7. Parametric planning layoffs, by Marcin Skomial, NYT, C8.
   The Parametric Technology Corp., an engineering software maker...based in Needham, Mass. \will\ cut 400-500 years, or 8-10% of its work force, in response to slow growth in sales.... The company will take a charge of $20-30m in the fourth quarter to cover the cost of the job cuts.
   [So, let's split the diff and call it (400+500)/2= 450 jobcuts.]

8. One agency closes..., by Stuart Elliott, NYT, C4.
   ...Favara & Raffle Advertising in NYC, an agency that specializes in print advertising for luxury goods, apparel and retailers...which will close in 30 days..\..after eight years...had four employees....

9. Sweden: Bearing maker cuts jobs, Bloomberg via NYT, W1.
   A maker of roller bearings, SKF, plans to cut more jobs and drop production about 10% this quarter....
   [unspecified jobcuts]

1. Troubled Comdisco sells unit, by Laurie Flynn, NYT, C6.
   Comdisco Inc...whose primary focus is leasing computer equipment..\..said yesterday that it would file for bankruptcy protection.... The company, based in Rosemont, Ill., also announced it would lay off about 200 employees, representing less than 10% of its North American work force....

2. Specialty paper maker to quit part of Brazil business, Dow Jones via NYT, C6.
   ...Schweitzer-Mauduit International is leaving the coated-papers business in Brazil because of poor market conditions.... The company, based in Alpharetta, Ga...said the business is its least profitable line in Brazil yet its biggest user of electricity.
   [Unspecified job loss.]

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Feb/2000.
Jan/2000.
Dec/1999.
Nov/99.
Oct/99.
Sept/99.
Aug.16-31/99.
Aug.1-15/99.
July/99.
May-Jun/99.
Mar-Apr/99.
Jan-Feb/99.
December/98.
November/98.
October/98.
prior to Sept. 30/98.

For more details, our laypersons' guide to our great economic future Timesizing, Not Downsizing is available at bookstores in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass. or from *Amazon.com online.

Questions, comments, feedback? Phone 617-623-8080 (Boston) or email us.