Dot Com News from Week of June 25, 2001

• 6/29/01 - Agere Systems said it would cutting another 4,000 employees, or about 25 percent of its work force, and expected to take up to $900 million in charges as it restructures its business to cope with the severe downturn in the semiconductor industry. The optical-components maker, a former unit of Lucent Technologies that was spun off in late March, said the job reductions were in addition to the 2,000 employees that had been laid off from the company in April.
• 6/29/01 - DSL.net said that it will cut 90 jobs and 250 operational central offices, as the high-speed Internet service provider revises its operating plan in an effort to reduce its cash burn rate.
• 6/29/01 - Circuit maker Sipex said it will cut its work force by about 15 percent and idle manufacturing for an unspecified period in the third quarter because of slowness in the semiconductor market.
• 6/29/01 - Looking to further cut costs, Hewlett-Packard asks its U.S. workers to take an additional eight days of vacation time by October or a pay cut of up to 10 percent.
• 6/29/01 - 360networks filed for protection from creditors, its dreams of wiring the world with fiber-optic cable laid waste by slowing demand, tight capital markets and mounting debt. The company, led by former Microsoft chief financial officer Greg Maffei, said that the decision to file for protection in Canada and the United States would allow it to reorganize its finances and that it still hoped to complete its network in North America.
• 6/29/01 - TMP Worldwide, the owner of online job finder Monster.com, said that it has inked a deal to acquire rival HotJobs.com for approximately $460 million.
• 6/28/01 - Merrill Lynch & Co., the nation's largest brokerage house, and Citigroup Inc., the largest financial-services company, are looking to implement further cuts in their already-shrinking work forces as profits in some critical areas continue to shrink.
• 6/28/01 - Nokia plans to lay off as many as 1,000 workers from its mobile-network systems unit due to flagging demand for its mobile-phone handsets.
• 6/28/01 - Texas Instruments Inc. has put a Merrimack, N.H., manufacturing plant up for sale in a move to eliminate 340 jobs from its payroll. The semiconductor company plans to close its analog-chip plant in Merrimack during the middle of next year if it doesn't find a buyer.
• 6/28/01 - Adaptec Inc., a maker of computer-networking devices, will cut about 325 positions, or about 15% of its work force, as part of a restructuring that will include additional reductions in discretionary spending.
• 6/28/01 - Compaq Computer is among the tech giants adopting the cost-cutting measure, confirming Thursday that 30,000 of Compaq's 33,000 U.S. employees will be off next week as part of a mandatory shutdown of all nonessential operations, such as customer service.
• 6/28/01 - Deere & Co. plans to eliminate 1,250 jobs, or about 8% of its work force, as it struggles to reduce costs amid slumping sales. The company also said it will offer a voluntary early-retirement program to about 2,500 salaried employees as part of its overall efforts to cut costs.
• 6/28/01 - Sitel Corp. announced a corporate restructuring and cost-cutting, including eliminating 350 employees worldwide. The Baltimore company, which provides electronic customer relationship management services and call centers, said jobs would be cut in operations, sales and administration areas.

• 6/28/01 - The Estee Lauder Cos. will close 86 of the 170 Tommy Hilfiger fragrance shops it operates in the U.S. and retool computer systems within its supply chain to try to increase profits.
• 6/28/01 - JDS Uniphase expects to cut more jobs than the 5,000 announced in April, aiming to reduce costs as spending on telecommunications gear slackens.
• 6/27/01 - Reflecting the soft economic conditions troubling many of its own listed companies, the Nasdaq Stock Market made its first staff cuts in nearly 15 years. The cuts total about 140 people, or 11% of its 1,300 workers.
• 6/27/01 - Lucent is preparing for an additional round of layoffs that could exceed 10,000, as the telecom-equipment maker continues its massive restructuring.
• 6/27/01 - VA Linux Systems announced it will stop selling Linux computers on July 10, abandoning a business central to the company since its founding in 1993 and its phenomenal initial public offering in 1999. The company also will lay off 35 percent of its staff - about 153 of 436 employees. Leaving hardware means VA instead will work on Linux software, its collaborative programming tools and its Web site.
• 6/27/01 - Telecom services carrier 360networks announced that it will lay off about 800 employees, or 44 percent of its work force, in a move to contain costs.
• 6/27/01 - Specialty electronic chipmaker Altera said it would lay off 152 employees, or about 7 percent of its work force, and restated its view that second-quarter sales will fall about 25 percent from the first quarter.
• 6/26/01 - The weak market for computer components has prompted Micron Technology Inc. to put in place a hiring freeze. Also, salaries for top executives have been cut 10 percent.
• 6/26/01 - French computer services and consulting group Cap Gemini Ernst & Young said Tuesday that it was cutting 2,700 jobs to cope with a slowdown in the United States and northern Europe.
• 6/26/01 - Having reduced its work force by 3,300 jobs so far this year to cut costs, brokerage powerhouse Merrill Lynch & Co. warned that second-quarter earnings will still be significantly lower than Wall Street expectations.
• 6/26/01 - CNS Inc., the maker of Breathe Right nasal strips and other health care products, said it has been forced to cut 25 percent of its work force as it restructures.
• 6/26/01 - Dutch electronics company Royal Philips Electronics NV said it will cease making mobile phone handsets and cut 43 percent of its work force in France as it restructures those operations.
• 6/26/01 - Kemet Electronics, a maker of electrical parts used in cell phones and computers, will cut 1,805 manufacturing and support jobs at its U.S. and Mexican facilities. It cited a severe inventory reduction in the electronics industry.
• 6/26/01 - Metricom, the Internet service provider for wireless Ricochet modems, announced that it will cut almost a quarter of its work force in an effort to steady its foundering business amid tough times. The wireless data services company said it will lay off 23 percent of its staff, or about 135 employees, leaving 451 workers worldwide.
• 6/25/01 - Struggling high-speed Internet provider Covad Communications Group Inc. said it plans to shut down its BlueStar Communications Group unit and lay off about 400 workers as a result. BlueStar, which was acquired by Covad for stock in September 2000, is a direct seller of high-speed Internet access and related services.
• 6/25/01 - Software provider Acxiom Corp. warned that it expects to post a loss for its fiscal first-quarter instead of the profit analysts were expecting and said it would cut 400 jobs, or about 7% of its work force, in response to the weakened economy.
• 6/25/01 - Nortel Networks Inc. said it was eliminating 330 jobs at its factory in Monkstown, Northern Ireland, as part of its plans to cut 10,000 from its global work force by September in the face of declining demand in the telecommunications sector.
• 6/25/01 - Citing the growing costs of asbestos litigation, building products manufacturer USG Corp. filed for federal bankruptcy protection. The Chicago-based company's major domestic subsidiaries - U.S. Gypsum, USG Interiors, Inc. and L&W Supply Corp. - also filed Chapter 11 petitions.

• 6/25/01 - International Paper Co., facing a weak market for paper and forest products, said it is laying off 3,000 of its nonmanufacturing employees to cut costs. The layoffs affect about 3% of the company's 113,000-person work force.