Kodak has announced that it will lay off as many as 4,500 of its employees:
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Eastman Kodak Co posted an unexpected quarterly loss and said it would cut up to 4,500 jobs this year after suffering a dramatic decline in demand for digital cameras and commercial printing equipment.
The maker of cameras, picture frames and consumer printers and provider of commercial printing services, also unveiled another round of restructuring, aimed at cutting costs, the latest in a string of such moves dating back to at least 2003.
The results come about a year after Kodak said it had completed an expensive four-year restructuring that transformed it into a maker of digital photography products, and a developer of commercial and retail printing systems. During that restructuring, Kodak halved its workforce, which now stands at about 26,900 people.
The company said on Thursday it would reduce its workforce by between 3,500 and 4,500 positions in 2009. Kodak late in 2008 had earmarked 1,000-1,500 jobs to be cut in 2009, and on Thursday said an additional 2,000 to 3,000 jobs will be cut.
Its fourth-quarter loss from continuing operations was $137 million, or 51 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $215 million, or 75 cents per share. Kodak called the results preliminary because additional asset-related charges may be recorded for the period.
Excluding special items such as restructuring and legal costs, Kodak’s loss was 8 cents a share, far short of analysts’ expectations of a profit of 19 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
That’s roughly 15% of its workforce. This is horrible for the employees who will lose their jobs and for Rochester which has already seen a tremendous deterioration in the local economy which this move will do nothing to help but I can’t blame Kodak too much. The company has genuinely tried to right itself, has produced some quality products lately, particularly their color printer line, but the general downturn in retail has come at precisely the wrong time for Kodak. I honestly don’t know whether the venerable company will survive.
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has announced job cuts as has truck manufacturer Oshkosh:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Drugmaker AstraZeneca, photo products maker Eastman Kodak and truck maker Oshkosh on Thursday announced thousands of new job cuts, on top of their previously announced reductions.
AstraZeneca (AZN), based in Britain, said it would cut an additional 6,000 jobs worldwide. This is part of its plan to eliminate 15,000 positions by 2013.
The 6,000 new cuts are on top of the 7,600 reductions announced in 2007, and the 1,4000 announced in 2008, the company said.
[…]
Oshkosh (OSK, Fortune 500), the Wisconsin-based builder of fire engines, dump trucks and military vehicles, announced 1,050 new job cuts, in addition to reductions announced last year.
The company’s stock plunged by one-third following the announcement.
This brings the Oshkosh total to 2,400 job cuts since last year. Company spokeswoman Ann Stawski said the cuts have already taken place, bringing the current workforce to 13,300.
Stawski said the reductions are a result of a downturn in residential and commercial construction.
Oshkosh announced the job cuts as it reported quarterly sales of $1.39 billion and a net loss of about $20 million, or 28 cents per share. This is compared to the year-ago quarter, when the company reported sales of $1.5 billion and net income of about $37 million, or 50 cents per share.
Oshkosh really had no other choice: it’s losing money fast and is entering survival mode.
AstraZeneca is a different case entirely. Not only is it a company that’s continuing to make money and pay dividends, its price to earning ratio is reasonable for its sector. I see little reason for these layoffs at this time.
