Economic News: Company Closings/Layoffs

     You are about to read a list of companies who have announced either they are closing or they will be laying off workers. These closings/layoffs were announced during the week of November 2-8. This is just a partial listing.

   Go here for the entire list.

   Align Technology Inc. plans to cut 111 full time positions in Santa Clara, CA, of which 46 positions will be eliminated between now and January 2009.

American Express in New York is undertaking a companywide reengineering that will eliminate approximately 7,000 jobs or about 10% of the company's worldwide workforce.

Ball Corp. is closing its metal beverage packaging manufacturing plants in Kansas City, MO, at 1800 Reynolds Ave. The Kansas City plant operates four production lines capable of making 1.1 billion cans in a variety of sizes and employs approximately 180 people. It is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2009.

Dell Inc. this week has put in place a hiring freeze and is offering employees voluntary severance packages, as well as one to five days off without pay. Dell also is reducing its use of contract employees, cutting travel expenses and "reprioritizing" some projects and capital spending. Last fall, Dell announced its plans to cut about 8,900 workers.

Motorola Inc. posted a hefty loss in the third quarter citing the continued troubles of its cell phone division. Because of that, the company will postpone the planned spin-off of the unit, and cut more jobs -- 3,000 jobs by April, with about 2,000 of them coming from the cell phone unit. The company last announced 2,600 job cuts in April.
NBC Universal plans to cut $500 million in spending next year. The reduction would equal 3% of the company's budget. The cuts will come from staffing reductions and cutbacks in budgets for travel, entertainment and promotions.

Time Inc., the world's largest magazine company, is expected to cut 6% of its workforce - more than 600 positions. No magazines are scheduled to close, but some are likely to be severely cut back. The company, a division of Time Warner, the media conglomerate that includes CNN, Turner Broadcasting, HBO, AOL and the Warner Brothers movie studio, is facing the twin perils of a shifting media landscape from a severe economic downturn and a loss of readers and advertisers to the Web.
Washington Post revealed that 231 employees accepted its voluntary retirement incentive program offered to some employees earlier this year. The Post also plans to close its College Park, MD, printing plant at 5245 Greenbelt Road in the second half of 2009 and that none of the four presses will be moved to The Post's Springfield, VA, plant..

  Those are just a few of the closing or layoffs announced. The list is quite lengthy. So much for John McCain's economy being in good shape.

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