Kodak to Trim 23 Pct. of Workforce Over Three Years
By
Mike Pasini, The Imaging Resource
(Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 16:35 EST)
The cuts overshadowed the news from its fourth quarter report that Kodak's digital sector has turned its first profit and the company beat analysts' forecasts.
The Associated Press reported today (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=4026471&p1=0) that Eastman Kodak will cut 12,000 to 15,000 jobs in global manufacturing and traditional business over the next three years. This year, Kodak will lay off 2,500 to 3,500 employees after laying off 6,000 in 2004.
In 1983, Kodak employed as many as 136,500 people. At the end of 2003, the company employed 64,000 people, of which 35,500 were in the U.S. and 20,600 of those in Rochester.
The news overshadowed Kodak's fourth quarter report (http://www.kodak.com/cgi-bin/US/en/corp/pressCenter/headlines.cgi) in which the company reported net income of seven cents per share. When restructing and other one-time costs are excluded, earnings were 70 cents a share, higher than the 52 cents forecast by analysts. Sales went up from $3.44 billion to $3.78 billion, a 10 percent increase.
Kodak also noted that its digital sector turned a profit in 2003 for the first time.
Special thanks to reader Ulysses Ashton for calling Kodak's announcement to our attention.
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