Wednesday, May 29, 2002

Nortel to cut another 3,500 jobs, may sell optical-parts unit "Telephone-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. said Wednesday it will cut another 3,500 jobs, more than expected, and may sell its optical-components business as it revamps its operations to save money." "Nortel now expects its work force to bottom out at 42,000. Last month, Nortel put the figure at 44,000. The Brampton, Ontario company has cut about 50,000 jobs since the beginning of last year, and employed 47,000 people at the end of the first quarter." "Nortel said it plans to streamline the optical long-haul business because it doesn't expect a 'meaningful' recovery in that market before late 2003 or early 2004. The plan includes the possible sale or resizing of Nortel's optical-components business." 12:06:48 PM  Google It!  comment  []

Why Dilbert s loves the Internet "Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert as well as mouthpiece and defender of the everyman: 'Well, I (have) this new book coming out, Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel, and I would lump the dot-coms in with Enron and Merrill Lynch and Arthur Andersen and all these companies that are just major weasels. I think it used to be true that you could more or less trust them because the threat of getting caught would keep them honest. But that doesn't even seem to make a difference anymore. It just seems (like) widespread lying everywhere.'" 11:58:24 AM  Google It!  comment  []

Vodafone Posts Huge Loss for Year "Once the unchallenged spearhead of the global wireless business, the Vodafone Group announced today that it had a net loss of almost $24 billion in the year ended in March, largely a result of write- downs in the value of the same deals and takeovers that once fueled its growth." "The loss, corporate Europe's biggest, succeeded in overshadowing the $12 billion loss in 2001 reported last month by Vivendi Universal, the French media giant, as European companies scramble to reassess the value of assets acquired at the height of the boom in technology, Internet and telecommunications stocks." 8:26:51 AM  Google It!  comment  []