5/10/02
Telecommunications company Sprint is eliminating another
300 jobs in its mobile telephone unit on top of 3,000 jobs already
being cut because of the closure of five customer call centers.
The additional job cuts are an after effect of shuttering the call
centers and will come in Sprint PCS's network, sales and distribution,
and customer-solutions business units.
5/10/02
LifeF/X, Inc. announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent,
to sell substantially all of its assets to Safeguard Scientifics,
Inc., and has, together with its subsidiary, filed for protection
under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States
Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada. FaceXpress(TM) makes
sites more engaging and effective by conveniently managing the content,
expressions and motions of Stand-Ins.
5/9/02
InterTrust Technologies reported its net loss narrowed in
the first quarter and announced a major restructuring that will
include a 70 percent reduction in its staff. The company said it
will narrow its business to developing and licensing intellectual
property for digital rights management and trusted computing.
5/9/02
Battered by the continuing downturn in the economy, CoSine Communications
announced plans to lay off 45 percent of its work force. A CoSine
representative said the network equipment maker will cut 190 jobs,
reduce research and development spending, and consolidate the company's
sales and support staffs so they can focus on the company's larger
telecommunications service provider customers.
5/9/02
International Business Machines Corp. will lay off as many
as 8,000 workers, or about 2.5% of its world-wide work force, during
the current quarter. The numbers involved in this round of layoffs
don't include the planned transfer of about 17,000 hard-disk drive
division workers to a new joint venture with Japan's Hitachi Ltd.
That plan, announced last month, is still in negotiations.
5/9/02
WorldCom's debt was slashed to "junk" levels by Moody's and
Fitch, as the telecom company's banks asked that it put up collateral
to secure $5 billion it is seeking in credit lines. The three-notch
downgrade raised speculation the firm eventually will have to file
for bankruptcy-court protection.
5/8/02
Debt-laden cable company NTL Inc. filed for bankruptcy-court
protection following an agreement with its bondholders to swap some
$10.6 billion of debt into equity as part of a massive restructuring
plan. The filing for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S.
Bankruptcy Code, in New York, listed assets of $16.8 billion and
debt of $23.4 billion, in one of the largest bankruptcy filings
by a telecommunications company.
5/8/02
KirchPayTV was forced into bankruptcy after a last-ditch
effort to entice Rupert Murdoch and Hollywood studios to fund a
bailout failed. Betting that the future of German television lies
in pay television, Mr. Kirch, 75 years old, pumped billions into
the business over the past six years. But far from boosting Kirch
Group's fortunes, the pay-TV gamble and other commitments left the
German media group with an insurmountable debt load of more than
($5.95 billion), sparking the biggest corporate collapse in Germany's
postwar history.
5/7/02
Bank of America executives say 190 people will be cut from
the company's retail mortgage division in Tucker by July 1 as part
of an overall effort to streamline operations. Industry watchers
say the layoffs could suggest something more --- that banks are
preparing for the end of the mortgage boom.
5/6/02
Winn-Dixie
Stores Inc. said the company will close all 76 of its stores
in Texas and Oklahoma, laying off 5,300 workers. Winn-Dixie operates
71 stores in Texas and five in Oklahoma. It also has a distribution
center and dairy plant in Fort Worth, and will close those as well,
the company said.