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.
11/8/02
As part of a corporate restructuring, New Haven-based CuraGen, the state's largest biotechnology company, announced that it will lay off 128 employees, or about 25% of its workforce. The company, which is involved in genomics, said it is moving away from early stage drug discovery.
11/8/02
Getronics cut its full-year outlook and announced plans to cut another 1,400 jobs, saying it doesn't expect a meaningful market recovery until 2004.
11/8/02
1-800-Collect Inc., an affiliate of WorldCom Inc., joined the telecommunications giant in Chapter 11 by filing a voluntary bankruptcy petition Friday. The collect-calling service, an indirect WorldCom subsidiary, filed its petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
11/8/02
McDonald's issued a profit warning reflecting a continuing trend of declining profit in seven of the last eight quarters. Citing lower-than-expected sales and charges related to restructuring in some international markets, the company said it was closing 175 restaurants outside the U.S., leaving three counties, and cutting 400 to 600 jobs world-wide, including 200 to 250 jobs domestically.
11/7/02
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. plans "significant" layoffs and a fourth-quarter pretax charge of several hundred million dollars to achieve the cost savings it promised last month, but said it plans to be profitable in 2003. The chip maker will cut "a significant number" of people during the fourth and first quarters to help it get expenses in line. An AMD spokesman later confirmed that the company would attempt to reduce its work force by 10% to 20% by the end of 2003, although he said the cuts would likely not all fall at once.
11/7/02
NRG Energy Inc., following months of financial triage, offered to surrender full ownership of the company to creditors through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. A bankruptcy filing by the unregulated power-generation subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc. would be the first in what is expected to be a string of energy-company bankruptcies in coming months.
11/6/02
E-tailer Priceline.com cut 65 positions, about 15 percent of its work force, as part of a broader restructuring. The company is also removing its "name your own price" feature from its automobile and long-distance listings. The layoffs, which affected 50 full-time employees and 15 consultants, were across the board, but particularly affected the company's automobile and long-distance departments.
11/6/02
Corel Corp. announced that it has reduced its work force by about 22%, or 220 employees, to streamline its operations amid slow sales. This company, which makes WordPerfect, Corel Draw and other software, said the move is a "significant step" in its effort to return to profitability and generate positive cash flow.
11/5/02
Rival information-technology service providers Logica PLC and CMG PLC said they have agreed to merge and announced a 6% reduction in their combined work force. The companies projected higher-than-expected cost savings, sending shares higher, but analysts weren't convinced the reduced research and development costs and planned staffing cuts would be entirely beneficial. The two companies provide such services as installing and integrating computer systems, consulting and handling computer work for other companies on an outsourcing basis. Both also provide software for mobile-phone messaging.
11/4/02
Applied Materials Inc. said it will cut about 1,750 jobs, or 11% of its work force, citing the continuing downturn in the semiconductor industry. The cuts include about 800 positions in Silicon Valley and 200 jobs in Austin, Texas. The remaining cuts will come at U.S. and world-wide locations.
11/4/02
Dow Jones is cutting 3.3% of its work force, freezing salaries and reducing bonus payments in response to the continued weak advertising environment.