JACKSON, MISS.—
WorldCom Inc. is eliminating 3,700 jobs in the United
States to better align costs with projected revenue this year.The cuts announced yesterday were limited to the company's WorldCom Group, which includes the high-growth data, Internet and international businesses. They amount to 6 percent of WorldCom Group's employment and 4 percent of the company's 75,000-member global work force.
Digex Inc. of Laurel, Md., which is majority-owned by WorldCom, is not affected.
WorldCom is the nation's second-largest long-distance provider, which it operates through its MCI Group. The Clinton, Miss.-based company said the job cuts were spread throughout offices across the country.
Company sources had said earlier that as many as 7,500 people could be laid off. The cuts had been planned for last week, but WorldCom President and Chief Executive Officer Bernie Ebbers postponed the move at the last minute for unspecified reasons, the sources said.
Late yesterday morning, several employees left the company's Clinton headquarters with their belongings packed in boxes.
In trading yesterday on the Nasdaq stock market, WorldCom Group shares fell 27 cents to $6.51. The shares, battered in recent months, traded as low as $5.93 in February after peaking at $64.50 on June 21, 1999. MCI Group shares rose 17 cents to close at $5.76, also on Nasdaq.
Analyst Ramkrishna Kasargod of Morgan Keegan & Co. in Memphis, Tenn., said WorldCom, like others in the telecom industry, is responding to lingering sluggishness in the sector.
He said investors continue to have concerns about overcapacity and profitability.
WorldCom's worries also include some $24 billion in debt and an ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting as well as loans made to executives.
WorldCom's last major job reduction came a little more than a year ago when the company laid off about 6,000 U.S. employees.
