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News > Technology
WorldCom to cut jobs
January 26, 2001: 2:32 p.m. ET

Telecom provider plans to trim work force by 10 percent-to-15 percent
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - WorldCom Inc. is expected to lay off 10 percent-to-15 percent of its 77,000 work force – up to 11,550 jobs -- in an effort to cut costs, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.

A spokeswoman for WorldCom said she could not comment on rumor or speculation.

Most of the cuts are expected to take place in WorldCom's slower growth businesses such as consumer long distance, but there is not indication of when the cuts will come.

Last November, WorldCom said it would split in two, creating a tracking stock to shield its data and Internet businesses from its struggling consumer and wholesale long-distance telephone operations.

The moves came after the Clinton, Miss.-based company failed in its $129 billion takeover bid of Sprint (FON: Research, Estimates).

  graphic WORLDCOM INC.  
   
  • 1999 Sales: $37.12 Billion
  • 1999 Net Income: $4.01 Billion
  • Employees: 77,000
  •    
    WorldCom Chief Executive Officer Bernard J. Ebbers is known to dislike job cuts, seeing them as a "last resort," the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person close to the CEO.

    WorldCom (WCOM: Research, Estimates) is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter earnings next week, and the company could announce the layoff plans then. In November the company warned its fourth-quarter income would be 34-to-37 cents per share, below First Call consensus expectations of 49 cents per share.

    Shares of WorldCom rose 81 cents to $21.19 in afternoon trading.

    -- from staff and wire reports graphic





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    Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.