Seven Years Later: KPMG Accuses Barings Auditors of Incompetence

Nortel Cans Another 10,000; Promotes CFO
It just goes from bad to worse for North America's telecommunications companies.

Management at Nortel Networks Corp. said late Tuesday it will eliminate yet another 10,000 jobs and warned that the company will rack up a $3.6 billion net loss in the third quarter on revenue of $3.5 billion. The loss -- excluding charges and acquisition-related expenses- - is estimated to be about $910 million.

Keep in mind that Nortel already announced 10,000 workers will be leaving the company payroll, as their divisions are being sold. And, another 30,000 jobs have previously been cut. As a result, the company will be left with 45,000 employees, less than half its peak work force.

Company management also said Chief Financial Officer Frank Dunn would replace John Roth as chief executive, effective Nov. 1. Terry Hungle, former president of finance, succeeds Dunn.

In Other Layoff News...

• Fewer than 3,000 Internet jobs were cut in September, a 14-month low, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks company layoffs.

September saw 2,986 jobs cut in the Web world. That's a lot fewer cuts than in August, when 4,889 dot-com workers were let go. It's also 38 percent fewer pink slips than September 2000.</>

The reason for the slowdown? There's hardly anybody left to lay off. According to the Challenger report, nearly 127,000 dot-com jobs have been eliminated since July 2000.

• Rexhall Industries Inc., maker of motor homes, said last week that it canned about 200 employees, more than half of the company's work force, due to an order slowdown during late August and September.

• Stride Rite Corp. said it will cut 120 jobs, or about 6 percent of its work force.

• Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. intends to cut payroll by more than 10 percent after paring its flight schedule.

• Chicago-based Shedd Aquarium, the world's largest indoor aquarium, is laying off 44 employees, or 16 percent of its staff, due to a decline in tourism since the terrorist attacks.

In Brief

• AOL Time Warner Inc. chairman Steve Case said Tuesday he feels that the Internet sector, the economy, and the country have reached a bottom following the September terrorist attacks. "I can't predict that it is an absolute bottom, but it feels like it will be up from here," said Case during a Goldman Sachs & Co. conference in New York. "I'm taking a little bit of comfort in that things got difficult, that people are taking a step back, and people are reassessing."

• Continental Airlines Inc. is the first airline to follow United Air Lines Inc.'s lead and, in an effort to boost traffic, offer business travelers discounts of up to 50 percent on air fares.

• Jack Welch, who retired as chairman and chief executive of General Electric Co. last month, has joined the buyout firm of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc. as a special partner. He will work on strategic issues related to current and future investments, as well as offer counsel on the firm's global expansion.

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