Corporate layoffs are churning this earnings season, with companies trying to cut costs while growing their core businesses. We've gathered a list of pink slippers from the past couple weeks. Of course, aggressively cutting costs is only one side of recent corporate strategy.
Downsizing while acquiring has been a frequent occurrence in these shaky economic times as well. A perfect example of that is diversified manufacturer Danaher Corp. (NYSE:DHR), which recently spent $1.1 billion on two related acquisitions as it plans to cut 3,300 jobs.
On to the layoffs.
Germany's unemployment rate has
surprisingly dipped two months in a row, but that serves as no comfort at the country's biggest steelmaker, ThyssenKrupp AG, which
plans 20,000 job cuts on top of the 12,000 people it let go from January to September. Over in automaker Adam Opel GmbH's German headquarters, thousands of workers are taking a pre-emptive strike at possible layoffs since General Motors Co. abandoned a sale of the unit.
Workers walked off and are protesting in response since they believe a sale of the unit would have saved jobs.
There's hardly an industry that seems safe. From planemakers to tech companies to magazines:
- Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) announced another 2,500 job cuts, taking total cuts to 34,000. It's also looking at ways to expand business.
- Engineer Sulzer AG, which has a "continuous M&A pipeline," will cut 1,400 job in North America and Europe. It employed 12,726 people at the end of 2008.
- Europe's largest defense company BAE Systems plc is cutting 590 jobs as it restructures its armored vehicle operations in the U.K.
- Rail operator Network Rail recently denied it would cut 13,000 maintenance workers, but it has plans to reduce permanent employee numbers by 1,800 and agency contractor staff by 700.
- Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA), trying to find a way to get its much talked-about 787 Dreamliner airborne, won't complete 10,000 job cuts this year as planned, but into next year it will cut more than that number.
- US Airways Group Inc. (NYSE:LCC) said it will cut about 1,000 jobs next year.
- Acquisitive healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) plans 7,000 to 8,000 layoffs.
- Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK), which just closed its $41.1 billion acquisition of Schering-Plough Corp., will axe about 15% of its 106,000 employees.
- Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY), digesting its acquisitions of ImClone Systems Inc. for $6.5 billion and Monsanto Co.'s dairy cow hormone for $300 million, plans 5,500 job cuts.
- Swiss specialty chemicals and biotech company Lonza Group AG is cutting 450 jobs, or about 5% of its global workforce.
- Nokia Siemens Networks, the JV between Nokia Oyj (NYSE:NOK) and Siemens AG (NYSE:SI), will cut 7% to 9% of its 64,000 global workforce.
- Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE:S) said Tuesday it planned to trim jobs "in the dozens" from its wholesale division.
- Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) said 800 workers will receive pink slips, going beyond the 5,000 originally announced in January. "Microsoft announced more layoffs today, and I was one of them," wrote Don Dodge in a blog post Wednesday.
- No one has a handle on the number of cuts at Forbes magazine, but there are job cuts.
- Time Inc., the world's largest magazine company, plans a restructuring that could lead to as many as 600 job cuts.
- The world's largest magazine paper maker UPM-Kymmene Corp. said Tuesday it will lay off 870 workers in Finland and close four mills.
- Cosmetics company Avon Products Inc. (NYSE:AVP) will trim about 1,200 jobs, or about 2.8% of staff worldwide, by 2013.
- Versace's new CEO said the fashion house must move quickly on its restructuring plan, including 350 job cuts worldwide.
Despite all of this, Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. announced on Wednesday that
planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell for a third straight month in October to a 19-month low. -
Baz Hiralal
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