With so much in the news about job cuts and closures of well-known dot com companies, we at SearchtheWeb.com thought we would track these companies and Internet related sites and provide you with updated short news announcements on their status.
12/19/02
Honeywell International Inc. said that it expects to record a $1.9 billion charge and a hefty loss in the fourth quarter to cover asbestos claims, asset write-downs and job cuts. Honeywell said it plans to book up to $700 million for asset write-downs related to its specialty-materials and friction-materials businesses. Honeywell also expects to incur a charge of about $300 million related to previously announced plans to cut about 5,000 jobs and close 17 facilities to cope with expected weak demand for aerospace and industrial products through next year.
12/19/02
Rochester-based Citizens Communications Co. will freeze employee salaries in 2003 and change some pension benefits. Citizens owns Frontier, the Rochester area's primary local telephone company. A Frontier spokesman confirmed the memo.
12/18/02
Dutch chip maker ASML NV said it will slash 1,450 jobs, streamline its U.S. operations and take a $128.5 million restructuring charge in the fourth quarter, a sign that the slump in the semiconductor sector is far from over. ASML, the world's second-largest maker of machines that map out chip circuitry on silicon wafers, said the shakeup was inevitable because it saw no sign of an upturn in the global sector.
12/18/02
A year-end belt tightening at Sotheby's Holdings Inc. has prompted cutbacks in its online division, layoffs of some high-level employees and the sale of its Upper East Side headquarters in New York.
12/18/02
New York-based Register.com, the large Internet registrar, said that it has cut its workforce by 10% in recent months as part of a previously announced restructuring plan. The company now has under 500 employees.
12/18/02
Verizon New Jersey handed out pink slips to 378 of its union workers on Tuesday, axing employees with as much of 21 years of service. Most of the workers who received pink slips were facility technicians and workers who repair lines. Others were office and clerical workers, some with 11 to 21 years at the company. The 378 job cuts are the second layoffs of union employees in New Jersey this year. In November, 44 union workers lost their jobs, the first layoffs since 1975. The company eliminated a total of 1,160 jobs this year, mostly though voluntary buyouts. Other regions also will see layoffs. Verizon may fire as many as 3,500 people in New York, as well as others in New England and Pennsylvania.
12/17/02
Electrolux AB said it will cut 5,091 jobs, or 5.9% of its work force, in the next two years as it seeks to reduce costs and improve productivity. The Swedish appliance maker's plan includes closing a New Jersey air-conditioner plant. Electrolux employs more than 87,000 workers world-wide. It is the world's largest producer of household appliances, including washing machines, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners. Its brands include Frigidaire, Electrolux, Husqvarna, Weed Eater and Eureka.
12/17/02
ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd., Burlington, Mass., said it plans to reduce its work force by 24% and reduce its research-and-development budget, completing cost-reduction measures begun in October. The Internet- and intranet-service provider said it will cut about 37 workers, dropping its total staff size to 115 people.
12/17/02
Hughes Electronics Corp. announced that its subsidiary DirecTV Broadband Inc. is closing its high-speed Internet service business in 90 days and will help transition its 160,000 customers nationwide to alternative DSL service providers. The unit closing will result in 400 job losses in Cupertino, Calif., and San Jose, Calif.
12/16/02
Hughes Electronics, owner of the DirecTV satellite television service, said that it will close its money-losing digital subscriber line business in the next 90 days and lay off the unit's 400 employees in Cupertino and San Jose.12/16/02
BSquare Corp., Bellevue, Wash., plans to cut 68 workers, or 25% of its staff, and trim research and development spending at its new hosted management service operation in an effort to return to profitability by the third quarter of 2003.
12/16/02
Heavily indebted Marconi PLC announced deeper cuts in its core telecommunications-equipment division, signaling that the market for its products still hasn't bottomed. The company now intends to cut its annual operating cost base in the core division by making 1,000 further job cuts. It is now aiming to employ 14,000 staff in its core telecom-equipment business, compared with its previous target of 15,000-17,300 at the end of November.
12/16/02
Clarent Corporation announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement with Verso Technologies Inc. an Atlanta-based, integrated switching solutions company. Under the terms of the agreement Verso is expected to acquire substantially all the business assets of Clarent for approximately $9.8 million consideration in a combination of cash and notes. As part of the agreement, Clarent is expected to file for voluntary reorganization under Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.