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Publicly Announced Layoffs for 1999
January
Layoffs reported for: February, 1999
Layoffs reported for: March, 1999
Layoffs reported for: April, 1999
Layoffs reported for: May, 1999
Layoffs reported for: June, 1999
Jan. 7, 1999
Phillips to Cut Jobs by 8%, Spending by 33%
Phlllips Petroleum Co., the seventh-largest U.S. oil company, said it will cut 1,400 jobs, or 8% of its work force, and slash spending by about a third this year because of a continued oil-price slump. Phillips also will take $339 million in charges that will result in a loss for the fourth quarter. Excluding charges, the company said, it would break even or post a small loss. Analysts had expected Phillips to earn 12 cents a share. Several other oil companies have fired workers and cut spending because lower crude prices are hurting profits. Phillips' profit plunged 73% in the third quarter, largely because of falling revenue from oil sales. The company expects the firings and cost cuts to save about $230 million annually. Phillips, with 17,200 employees worldwide, plans to cut 850 U.S. jobs, including 400 at its Bartlesville, 0kla„ headquarters, and 550 overseas. Shares rose $1.19 to close at $43.81 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Bloomberg News)
Jan. 8, 1999
Franklin Resources Will Cut 560 Jobs
Investment managernent firm Franklin Besources Inc. said it will take a $58-inillion charge to cut 7% of its work force, the biggest such reduction in the company's 52-year history. Franklin said it will eliminate about 560 jobs, most of them in the company's San Mateo headquarters, following a year when assets under management declined $800 million to $220.2 billion, while most competitors reported asset gains. Franklin struggled in 1998 to attract investors because of subpar performance for some of its most popular mutual funds. Overall, Franklin Templeton funds attracted a net $474,1 million during the first II months of 1998, down from $15.1 billion during all of 1997, according to researchers at Boston-based Financial Research Corp. In addition to the job cuts, the restructuring charge will cover the costs of divesting some office space in San Mateo, the company said. (Bloomberg News)Jan. 8, 1999
Avco to Shut Costa Mesa Office, Eliminate Jobs
Consumer finance giant Avco Financial Services, which has been acquired by a Texas-based rival, will close its headquarters in Costa Mesa, eliminating most of the 200 jobs there as part of a major consolidation.The move by Dallas-based Associates First Capital Corp. will deal Orange County a double blow, eliminating jobs and a high-profile corporation whose presence for three decades has helped business recruiters attract other companies to the county.
Avco employees have been anticipating some consolidation since the company's former parent, Massachusetts-based Textron Inc. decided to sell the company in August to Associates First in a $3.9-billion deal. The purchase was completed Wednesday.
Under the consolidation, which is designed to help Associates cut $200 million in costs, 425 of Avco's 8,000 employees worldwide will lose their jobs, Associates said. Aveo's Denver loan-processing office will close by March, and its 200-person staff will be eliminated.
Jan. 9, 1999
• Tandycrafts Inc. said it will fire about 550 workers, or 20% of its work force, as it closes 121 money-losing leather and crafts stores to focus on its profitable office supply and picture frame businesses. Fort Worth-based Tandycrafts will close its 120 Tandy Leather & Crafts shops and a Craft Your World shop during the next six months, taking a charge of up to $29 million. Most of the stores are in Texas and California.Jan. 12, 1999
Revlon to Eliminate at Least 1,000 Jobs
Revlon Inc., the largest U.S. maker of cosmetics sold in discount chains and drugstores, said it will eliminate 1,000 to 1,200 jobs worldwide, or about 7% of its work force, to lower costs as sales slump. The cosmetics company, which is 83% -owned by billionaire investor Ronald Perelman, said the cuts are part of the restructuring it announced in October. Revlon said then that it expected fourth-quarter charges of $50 million, but now says the charges will total about $80 million, including $40 million in the fourth quarter. The company expects the restructuring, which includes the closure of three overseas plants, to cut costs by $30 million to $40 million a year, more than it anticipated in October. The seller of Revlon, ColorStay and Almay makeup said the costs savings will ensure that it meets analysts' consensus earnings forecasts of $1.55 a share in 1999. Revlon has blamed its drop in sales on weak economies in Asia, Russia and Latin America, as well as delays in unveiling new products and consolidation in the U.S. drugstore industry. New York-based Revlon's stock fell 44 cents to close at $18.50 on the NYSE. (Bloomberg News)Jan. 13, 1999
Lands' End to Cut Staff, Close a Catalog
Lands' End Inc. said it will cut 94 employees, or about 11% of its salaried staff, and liquidate its Willis & Geiger outdoor clothing catalog to reduce costs. Dodgeville, Wis.-based Lands' End also said it will close three of its 19 outlet stores, none in California, as it focuses on selling its casual clothing through catalogs and the Internet. The moves will result in an unspecified charge in the fiscal fourth quarter. Lands' End shares closed up $2 to $27.06 on the NYSE. (Bloonberg News)Jan. 14, 1999
Mondavi to Cut Staff, Refocus on Core Brands
Oakville-based winery Robert Mondavi Corp. said it would fire 4% of its work force and take a $6-million charge in its fiscal second quarter as the maker of premium-priced wines cuts costs to increase its competitiveness. The charge, which amounts to 23 cents a share, will be taken in the quarter ended Dec. 31. The company is expected to earn 63 cents a share in the fiscal second quarter. The job cuts, 36 in all, are part of a plan to refocus the company on its core brands.Jan. 15, 1999
Montgomery Ward closes 39 stores and slashes about 4,000 jobs
NEW YORK — Montgomery Ward & Co. Inc. will close 39 stores and cut about 4,000 jobs as part of a restructuring plan aimed at boosting the struggling retailer's sales and profits.The Chicago-based company said late Friday it will also close 17 Auto Express locations, but the stores adjacent to them will remain open. Ward's plans additional layoffs of administrative staff at its headquarters in the next few weeks.
The layoffs represent about 9 percent of its work force of 45,000. Ward's will have 252 stores after the closings.
The 127-year-old privately-owned retailer has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization since July 1997. The closings, which are nationwide and are expected to be completed by May 31, are subject to bankruptcy court approval.
It has lost business to discount chains, including Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart, which attract consumers with their wide range of merchandise at affordable prices.
Friday's announcement was the latest attempt by Ward's to shed its underperforming units. It closed nine stores last May and about 100 in 1997.
Jan. 15, 1999
Arco To Cut 1,200 Jobs And 1999 Capital Spending
NEW YORK — ARCO said on Friday it will cut 1,200 jobs, instead of the 900 announced earlier, and take an after-tax charge of $890 million for the fourth quarter due to low crude oil prices and asset writedowns.ARCO said the reorganization would reduce costs by $500 million by 2000. ARCO also cut 1999 capital spending by 25 percent to $2.7 billion worldwide.
Asset writedowns of $790 million result from investment impairments pegged to expectations of lower crude prices, the company said.
"The properties involved include some assets acquired as part of the Union Texas Petroleum purchase and other assets in the (United Kingdom) North Sea, Middle East and North Africa,'' ARCO said. "Essentially all of the oil and gas properties impacted are overseas.''
ARCO says the global cost-reduction restructuring plan it announced in October will cost $180 million after taxes.
Jan. 21, 1999
Boeing to Shut Weapons Plant in Georgia
Boeing Co. said it will close an 825-worker weapons plant in Duluth, Ga„ in a move to streamline its businesses after a spate of acquisitions. The plant makes the Hellfire antitank missile for the AH-64 Apache helicopter and parts of the Patriot missile interceptor. One-third of the jobs will be shifted to other plants, and 300 to 400 workers could be cut because of declining orders, Boeing said. The Seattle-based company plans to sell the 71-acre site and complete the transfer within a year. The work would be moved to plants in Huntsville, Ala„ and St. Charles, Miss. Boeing shares rose 81 cents to close at $34.25 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Bloomberg News)Jan. 22, 1999
Caldor to Close Its 145 Stores, Ending 20,000 Jobs
Norwalk, Connecticut, -- Caldor Corp., a bankrupt discount retailer that operates mainly in the Northeast, said it's going out of business, shutting its 145 stores and putting 20,000 people out of work.Caldor received bankruptcy-court approval today to sell its store sites, many of them in prime locations. It said it already has two agreements to sell a large portion of the properties.
The retailer has been in Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings since 1995, struggling as stronger rivals like Wal- Mart Stores Inc. and Dayton Hudson Corp.'s Target chain opened more stores in the region with more-attractive merchandise. Caldor failed to upgrade its inventory and distribution systems, and its products didn't keep pace with consumers' changing tastes, analysts said.
Caldor, which had annual sales of about $2.5 billion, will get rid of its inventory with going-out-of-business sales starting in the next few weeks and ending by mid-May.
Jan. 22, 1999
Weak Sales Will Mean Job Cuts at Lego
Danish toy maker Lego Group plans to slash its work force by up to 10% as electronic toys cut deeply into sales of its famed interlocking plastic building blocks. The privately held company said it expects to report a loss for 1998, its first since its founding in the 1930s. In a statement to the company's 10,000 employees, Lego Chief Executive Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen said the plan to cut up to 1,000 jobs worldwide was necessary to "slim down and improve our health." Lego's building blocks for decades were among children's most ardently wished-for toys. Their small size and interlocking design allow them to be put together in cantilevered and curving structures that are impossible to create with conventional blocks. While licensing agreements, a new Lego theme park in Carlsbad, Calif., and a fast-growing multimedia unit are expected to help growth, sales of Lego play materials to shops showed weak improvement last year, the company said. (Times Wire Services)Jan. 22, 1999
• Kellogg Co. said it will eliminate 260 jobs in Europe,
about 20% of its salaried staff there, as part of a worldwide cost-cutting plan. The maker of Rice Krispies and Corn Flakes said the cuts, which follow 765 job cuts in its North America operations last month, will produce annual savings of about $10 million,Jan. 22, 1999
A&M Records Closes; Geffen Lays Off 110
After 37 years of spinning out hits by such acts as Cat Stevens, the Police and Sheryl Crow, A & M Records closed its doors Thursday—firing nearly 170 employees who were given the day to pack and leave.Artists and executives hugged in the parking lot as weeping employees carried boxes of personal belongings to their cars. Above them, the A & M sign was draped with a black band and the flag flew at half staff, to commemorate, fired workers said, the death of the historic Hollywood record label.
Those fired at A & M were among nearly 500 employees cut in Los Angeles and New York by Seagram Co. as part of a massive restructuring that will eliminate thousands of music industry jobs worldwide.
Jan. 26, 1999
Burlington plans to cut 2,900 jobs, close seven plants
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Textile manufacturer Burlington Industries is cutting 2,900 jobs, or 17 percent of its work force, and closing seven plants in an effort to streamline its apparel fabrics business.Company officials blamed the decision to reduce capacity on the surge of low-priced garment imports, primarily from Asia.
Five of the plants are in North Carolina while the others are in South Carolina and Virginia. Burlington has 29 plants overall and employs 17,400 people.
The plants that will be closed are in Mooresville, Forest City, Oxford, Cramerton and Statesville in North Carolina; Bishopville, S.C.; and Hillsville, Va. It is also eliminating a department in Raeford, N.C., closing its knitted fabrics business and making other cutbacks throughout the company, Burlington said.
The segment of the company that makes fabrics for the home, which represented 42 percent of fiscal 1998 sales, is not part of the reorganization plan.
Jan. 27, 1999
Burlington to Shut 7 Plants, Cut 2,900 Jobs
Fabric maker Burlington Industries Inc. said it will shut seven plants and cut 2,900 jobs, or 15% of its work force, as it reported a 40% drop in quarterly earnings. The company cited a surge in imports of low-priced garments, primarily from Asia, for the cuts and profit drop. Burlington said its earnings fell to $7.97 million, or 14 cents a share, on a 15% plunge in revenue to $407.2 million. The company will close its knitted fabrics and shirts business, combine its Burlington Klopman Fabrics and Burlington Tailored Fashions divisions and wrap its sportswear business into its denim fabrics unit. In addition, capacity at U.S. apparel fabrics operations will be reduced by 25%. In July, Burlington said it would build four apparel plants in Mexico. Burlington shares fell $1.44 to close at $8.25 on the NYSE. (Bloomberg News)Jan. 27, 1999 BP Amoco Will Cut About 2,500 Jobs
BP Amoco said it began a restructuring that includes cutting nearly 2,500 jobs in Texas, Alaska and Canada and closing offices in New Orleans and Denver. The Denver and New Orleans offices employ 660 people. Some of those workers will transfer to Houston, a BP Amoco spokesman said. BP Amoco said it will cut 1,600 positions in Texas, 600 in Alaska and 275 in Canada. British Petroleum Co. said in August that it would cut 6,000 jobs worldwide after its $61.7-billion acquisition of Amoco Corp. As part of the restructuring, BP Amoco said Houston will become the new group's headquarters for U.S. oil exploration. All operations in Denver and New Orleans, as well as some work now done in Tulsa, Okla., will relocate to the company's Houston Westlake complex. BP Amoco's American depositary receipts fell 69 cents to close at $85.31 on the NYSE. (Bloomberg News)Jan. 27, 1999 Avery Dennison Plans Job, Factory Cuts
Label and office products maker Avery Dennison Corp. of Pasadena said Tuesday that it will lay off 1,500 employees, or more than 9% of its work force, including 60 factory workers in Southern California, to cut costs, boost profit and eliminate overlap from its recent venture with a German company.The restructuring will spell the end of a materials production plant in Rancho Cucamonga, which will be converted into a distribution center. Avery will also close an office products plant in Rochelle, III., and a materials plant in Germany.
Jan. 28, 1999
Unocal Cuts 475 Jobs as 4th-Qtr. Profit Falls 79%
Unocal Corp. said Wednesday that it cut 475 jobs, or 6% of its work force, in the fourth quarter as earnings fell 79% because of lower prices for oil and natural gas.
Profit before charges and gains for the El Segundo-based oil company was $28 million, or II cents a share, down from $134 million, or 54 cents, in the fourth quarter of 1997. Unocal beat the 6-cent average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp. Forecasts ranged from a loss of 4 cents a share to a profit of 10 cents. Unocal shares fell 88 cents to close at $28.38 on the New York Stock Exchange. - Bloomberg News
Layoffs reported for: February, 1999
Layoffs reported for: March, 1999
Layoffs reported for: April, 1999
Layoffs reported for: May, 1999
Layoffs reported for: June, 1999
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