Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 11, 1994 TAG: 9402110156
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEW YORK - AT&T is eliminating 14,000 to 15,000 jobs in its communications units over the next two years, a competitive move aimed at cutting $900 million in annual costs.
The announcement Thursday was the latest and one of the most drastic cutbacks in the U.S. communications industry, where tens of thousands of jobs have been lost over the past few years.
More than half the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. job cuts will be in management. Employees in the 96,500-employee communications services group will be offered financial incentives to leave the company.
The long-distance giant said it aims to save $900 million a year from the latest cuts in a bid to stay competitive.
In addition, AT&T will close sales and service operations in Providence, R.I.; Charleston, W.Va.; Bloomington, Minn.; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Itasca, Ill.; Pleasanton, Calif.; and Silver Spring, Md.
- Associated Press
Fleet plan offers low-income loans
WASHINGTON - Executives of Fleet Financial Group Inc. announced an $8 billion mortgage loan program Thursday for low-income and minority borrowers who have been shut out in the past.
It also may end a stormy relationship the Rhode Island-based mortgage company has had with Union Neighborhood Assistance Corp., an outspoken community organization in Boston that accused Fleet of victimizing black borrowers with high interest rates.
The organization praised the company's sweeping INCITY program.
The program includes $140 million in mortgages that will be administered with the neighborhood assistance group to low- and moderate-income borrowers in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. No money is earmarked for communities in Western Virginia. - Associated Press
Philip Morris to buy chocolate maker
Philip Morris Companies Inc. said Thursday it will acquire an 82 percent stake in Romania's leading chocolate manufacturer, S.C. Poiana-Produse Zaharoase S.A., from the government for $4.4 million.
The privatization agreement calls for the remaining 18 percent of the company to be sold to its employees.
Poiana, which had 1993 sales of $14 million, makes chocolates, hard candies and caramels. It will operate as part of Kraft Jacobs Suchard, the European food division of New York-based Philip Morris. - Associated Press
Clinton to name specialist to SEC
WASHINGTON - President Clinton plans to name Washington attorney Steven M.H. Wallman to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the White House said Thursday.
Wallman, a partner in the firm of Covington and Burling, has specialized in corporate, securities, contract and business law.
The White House said Wallman wrote legislation, which was enacted into law in Pennsylvania and Ohio, "to deter short-term corporate `raiding' activities, and wrote the first law in the United States to expressly permit corporate directors to take into account the interests of employees and communities" in the decision-making process. - Associated Press
Briefly . . .
Ground Round Restaurant Inc., a Boston-based restaurant chain with an outlet in Roanoke County, said Thursday it has withdrawn a proposed sale of $35 million in convertible subordinated debentures. The company cited market conditions that caused a drop in its share price over the past two weeks from $7.87 1/2 to $6.50. The company said there are no corporate developments which would explain the fall in its share price.
R.H. Macy & Co., as expected, has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to extend until Sept. 15 its exclusive right to file a plan of reorganization. Although some of the company's creditors may challenge the request, many bankruptcy experts expect Judge Burton R. Lifland to grant an extension. The bankrupt retailer, which operates the Macy's, Bullock's and I. Magnin department store chains, is trying to fend off the advances of Federated Department Stores, which recently bought a large piece of its rival's secured debt with an eye toward a merger.
by CNB