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WorldCom to cut jobs
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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).
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 WORLDCOM INC.
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1999 Sales: $37.12 Billion
1999 Net Income: $4.01 Billion
Employees: 77,000
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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 
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