Dot Com News from Week of August 13, 2001
- 8/19/01 - In a sweeping move designed to boost profitability in its sagging computer chip business, Japanese electronics manufacturer Fujitsu Ltd. will cut about 15,000 jobs by next March, representing about 8 percent of Fujitsu's global work force of 180,000. Most of the layoffs will affect Fujitsu's overseas units in North America and Southeast Asia. In Japan, the company wants to reduce headcount by about 3,000, in part by not renewing the contracts of workers on loan from subcontractors.
- 8/19/01 - Mellon Bank is laying off 106 workers and shutting down its Internal Revenue Service processing division after it found hundreds of federal tax returns were hidden and destroyed.
- 8/17/01 - Internet content and service provider Excite@Home said that it would cut 200 more jobs in its third round of layoffs this year. Excite@Home, which lost $346.3 million in its latest quarter and said it does not have enough cash to last the year, is cutting the jobs to eliminate redundancies, as it restructures its business. The cuts will leave the company with about 2300 employees. It started this year with 3,100.
- 8/17/01 - Sanrise, which specializes in storage management, has laid off an undisclosed number of employees in the midst of the tech hangover. Layoffs began earlier this month, a company representative confirmed Friday. The Dublin, Calif.-based company would not say how many employees were laid off, but sources said the number was sizable. Before the layoffs, Sanrise employed 290.
- 8/17/01 - Dell Computer said that 600 employees in Europe have been laid off during the past quarter as part of its plan to reduce its global workforce by 3,000. The affected staff had accepted voluntary layoff packages during the second quarter, said Paul Bell, president of Dell's Europe, Middle East and Africa operation. Most were in Ireland and the U.K.
- 8/17/01 - Online entertainment provider Creative Planet says it has laid off 25 employees out of about 105, marking the third round of layoffs for the 3-year-old company. Chief Executive Allen DeBevoise said the layoffs affected all divisions and are part of the company's efforts "to tighten the ship and essentially get to profitability sooner."
- 8/17/01 - Creditors have now approved Lucent Technologies' next batch of restructuring which includes $9 billion in fourth quarter restructuring charges and the previously announced layoffs reaching as many as 20,000 people.
- 8/17/01 - Semiconductor company General Semiconductor said it will close a plant located in Ireland that employs 13% of its workforce or about 670 people. In addition the company will cut another 3% of its workforce via cost-cutting programs worldwide.
- 8/17/01 - Ericsson announced among other plans to make operations less complex, better serve their clients and more efficiently apply their resources, to eliminate more than 10,000 of its 100,000 employees.
- 8/17/01 - Accenture formerly known as Anderson Consulting has plans to cut 1,500 jobs or about 2% of its employees due to the slow economy. The company provides management and technology consulting services and systems.
- 8/17/01 - Ford Motor Company will eliminate between 4,000 and 5,000 white collar positions in North America as the first step of its massive restructuring plan. The ecomonic slowdown has affected automakers and other companies with low demand.
- 8/17/01 - Silverline Technologies of India has laid off 150 of its 2,600 employees due to redundant facilities and resources after its merger with SeraNova. In addition the company trimmed payrolls because of the slowing economy.
- 8/16/01 - The Industry Standard - a revered publication best known for chronicling the rise and fall of the dot-com sector - published its last issue this week, and is sending nearly all of its employees on a one-week forced vacation. The majority of Industry Standard's 190 employees will be laid off on Monday. A skeleton crew will stay on to continue publishing on the company's Web site, http://www.thestandard.com.
- 8/16/01 - Boeing Co., the world's largest planemaker, said it would lay off 600 workers at its Long Beach, California, plant, citing slow sales of its smallest model, the 106-seat 717 jetliner.
- 8/16/01 - Internet surfers have only 10 days to use up their Beenz after the company announced that its online operations will cease Aug. 26. Any outstanding Beenz will be worthless after that date. n addition to shutting down its online currency system, Beenz is closing its London offices and laying off the 10 to 15 employees who work there. It will keep its New York office open and is in negotiations with several companies about selling off its assets piecemeal.
- 8/16/01 - Possibly seeing light at the end of the tunnel, Ames Department Stores Inc. said it would close another 47 stores in 10 states by the end of October. About 2,000 employees will be affected.
- 8/16/01 - Ebay who purchased Ibazar in May of this year, confirmed that it might be laying off employees due to duplicate positions. However, it is too early yet to determine which employees would be affected by the layoffs.
- 8/16/01 - Chipmaker Analog Devices expects to cut a "fair amount" of workers in the current quarter, the CEO said Thursday. Exact numbers were not given.
- 8/16/01 - Broadband Internet service provider Covad has as planned filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to erase its debt totaling $1.4 million. As previously expected, this would not affect its business operations, its DSL service or any other customer services.
- 8/15/01 - Chinese Internet portal Sina.com says it will slash its work force by 15 percent after reporting a 6 percent drop in quarterly revenue. The plan is to cut 80 jobs by the end of September.
- 8/15/01 - In an effort to further cut costs, Sun Microsystems is asking its workers to take additional unused vacation days before the end of the year. According to Sun workers, the company is asking all employees with unused vacation time to take an additional five days off between July 9 and December 24, saying the cost savings for the company could be dramatic.
- 8/15/01 - Corning Inc., the world's largest fiber-optic cable maker, said its cable unit cut 900 jobs through layoffs and buyout offers as the company felt the effects of weak demand amid the global economic slowdown. With this current round of cuts, the cable unit, Corning Cable Systems, has slashed about 1,140 jobs, or 8 percent of its total work force, since May.
- 8/15/01 - Motorola announced that its semiconductor-products division will phase out two water-fabrication lines at its plant in Mesa, Arizona over the next two and a half years. Up to 1,200 employees would be affected and some may be offered positions elsewhere within the company.
- 8/15/01 - General Motors' corporate unit Adam Opel AG will eliminate thousands of jobs in Europe and lower the capacity of its Opel and Vauxhall plants in order to try to save 2 billion euros or $1.8 billion. The unit has saw sales decline in Europe and will try to return to profit in Europe by 2003.
- 8/15/01 - Egghead.com, once known for its storefronts and later an online retailer has fired two thirds of its staff or about 200 employees and agreed to sell its assets to Fry's Electronics abiding by U.S. bankruptcy law. The company said it would continue to operate under Chapter 11 bankruptcy codes using the remaining one third of its staff.
- 8/15/01 - Online retailer Buy.com cut 40% of its staff or about 50 employees amid shrinking revenues. The company has reported a $5.7 million quarterly net loss. In February the company cut 125 employees.
- 8/15/01 - Wavve Telecommunications Inc. announced that it was filing a voluntary petition for relief under chapter 11 of Title 11, US Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California. As a major provider of colocation, network connectivity internet and managed services, Wavve Telecommunications has been adversely affected by the severe economic problems which are currently plaguing the telecommunications, dot-com and technology industry sectors.
- 8/14/01 - Video game publisher Sierra On-Line, a division of Vivendi Universal, said that it would lay off 245 people and close one of its studios as it reorganizes its businesses.
- 8/14/01 - VelocityHSI, Inc., a provider of high-speed Internet services to the apartment industry, announced it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Dallas-based Reallinx, Inc. for the purchase of substantially all of VelocityHSI's assets for $350,000. The company also announced that it is filing today for protection under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.
- 8/14/01 - Midway Airlines said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, reduced flights and laid off half its employees to cope with a steep drop in business travel. About 700 employees were being laid off immediately, including 189 pilots. The company said in a statement that its financial problems were caused by a "calamitous drop in business traffic," low fares, slow growth and high jet fuel prices.
- 8/14/01 - Razorfish Inc. reported a loss on a deep drop in second-quarter revenue, and the Internet-consulting firm continued to rapidly shed employees. The company said it has laid off about 600 people in the quarter, of which about 170 came from nonbillable staff. As of the beginning of the month, Razorfish had about 670 personnel remaining, of which about 510 are billable consultants. The company also said it closed its Helsinki and Milan offices.
- 8/14/01 - An Atlanta-based company offering nationwide summer computer programs has pulled the plug on classes midway through its session. American Computer Experience cited "cash-flow problems" as the reason for abruptly halting classes, leaving hundreds of participants wondering if they will be refunded the $940 tuition for the eight-week courses. Signs were posted on classroom doors saying the firm had gone out of business.
- 8/14/01 - USX-U.S. Steel Group said it will cut 600 jobs and permanently close a cold-rolled and tin product steel mill near Philadelphia, taking a $35 million to $45 million mostly noncash charge in the second half of 2001. The shuttering of the majority of the Fairless Works operations will allow the nation's largest steelmaker to cut costs and operate more efficiently.
- 8/14/01 - Citigroup will be eliminating 3,500 workers in addition to the 1,200 layoffs it previously announced. The company cited current market conditions as the culprit requiring these layoffs.
- 8/13/01 - Tyco International Ltd. plans to close or consolidate nearly 300 plants worldwide and cut another 11,300 jobs, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- 8/13/01 - Troubled mobile satellite telephone company Globalstar posted a second-quarter loss and said it was reducing its staff to 175 employees to ensure the availability of funding for the remainder of the year.
- 8/13/01 - Fans of the World Wrestling Federation will be caught by surprise when contacting WWF.com only to learn about the World Wildlife Fund and its efforts to protect endangered animals such as the panda. A British court has ruled in favor of the non-profit animal preservation organization and as a result, World Wrestling Federation must change its logo and lose its domain.
- 8/13/01 - It is expected that AOL Time Warner will announce job cuts in its online unit in order to reach its financial goals. The company currently has about 16,000 employees. A source knowledgable about the jobs cuts said they could total several hundred.