Mar 30, 2001 - 06:07 PM

Georgia-Pacific Permanently Closes Bellingham Mill The Associated Press

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) - Georgia-Pacific Corp. said Friday it would permanently close its Bellingham pulp mill and chemical plant, which have been idled since December because of high electricity costs. The company said the cost of running the plants was higher than at its other mills around the country, including ones acquired when it bought Fort James Corp. for $11 billion last year. The 420 workers at the plant and mill will receive two months' pay and severance packages.

Georgia-Pacific, headquartered in Atlanta, also is considering closing its the adjoining tissue paper plant at Bellingham, which has been operating with diesel generators since January. About 330 workers are employed at that plant.

"The current, unanticipated West Coast energy crisis has significantly raised the cost of energy for the mill," said Lee M. Thomas, executive vice president for consumer products.

"This closure is in no way a reflection on the employees at Bellingham. They have shown tremendous dedication through this trying situation."

The mill has operated since 1925 and has been owned by Georgia-Pacific since 1963, company spokesman Greg Guest said.

The announcement stunned the community in the northwest corner of Washington near the Canadian border, where the waterfront mill complex is the major private employer. Mike Brennan, president of the Bellingham-Whatcom County Chamber of Commerce, said it would cost the local economy $45 million to $50 million a year, including pay, benefits and charitable contributions.

Shares of Georgia Pacific were up 49 cents, or almost 2 percent, to close at $29.40 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

AP-ES-03-30-01 1807EST © Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Answers

Mar 30, 2001 - 04:38 PM

Ford to Trim Shift From SUV Plant, Affecting 850 Workers By Jim Suhr The Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) - Citing slow sales, Ford Motor Co. said Friday it will cut a shift at an area plant where Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles are made, affecting about 850 hourly workers. The planned cuts at the Michigan Truck site reflect nagging malaise in domestic auto sales, which over the past several months has had U.S. automakers paring output to trim bloated inventories.

Ford expects about 500 of the Michigan Truck layoffs to come next month, with the cuts to be completed in May at the plant in Wayne, spokesman Ed Lewis said.

The world's second-largest automaker hopes to transfer many of the affected workers to its other southeast Michigan plants, with 275 headed to the Wixom plant to help with the new Ford Thunderbird, Lewis said.

Over this year's first two months, U.S. sales of the Expedition dipped 13 percent from the same period last year. Demand for the Navigator slumped 23 percent.

Ford plans to cut annual production capacity at the roughly 4,000- worker Michigan Truck plant by 65,000 vehicles - from 270,000 - by going to two shifts over five days, down from three-shift, seven-day rotations, Lewis said.

Ford expects its North American production this quarter to be down 16 percent from the first three months of last year.

U.S. sales for Ford, General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler arm for January and February are down a combined 10 percent from the same period of 2000. Analysts widely expect softness in U.S. auto sales to continue at least into midyear.

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On the Net:

http://www.gm.com

http://www.ford.com

http://www.daimlerchrysler.com

AP-ES-03-30-01 1638EST © Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Mar 30, 2001 - 04:58 PM

Technology Concern C-Cor.net to Eliminate 700 Jobs, Close Two Plants The Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - C-Cor.net Corp., which provides high-tech products and services for technology companies, will close its plants in Tipton and Atlanta and eliminate 700 jobs, or 37 percent of its work force, by the end of the year. The company also said it expects to post a loss for its first and second quarters.

In trading Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, C-Cor stock fell nearly 16 percent, or $1.25 a share, to $6.69. The stock had traded as high as $57 in the last year.

Sally O. Thiel, a company spokeswoman, said about 450 workers in Tipton and a couple of dozen in Atlanta were told Friday their jobs were being eliminated. Most of the rest of the losses would come through attrition and not filling current openings, Thiel said.

"Certainly the current weak economic environment in the general economy and in our industry has contributed to lower levels of ordering in recent months," Thiel said. "From what we're hearing, that may continue for several months, and we have to adjust our business level."

The company employs 1,900 people overall.

William T. Hanelly, C-Cor's vice president of finance, said in a news release that the company expected to lose 14 to 16 cents per share in this quarter and the next quarter. C-Cor reported earnings of 13 cents per share during the quarter that ended Dec. 29.

Two months ago, C-Cor laid off about 300 workers at its facilities in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

C-Cor also has operations in Riverside and Santa Clara, Calif.; Lakewood, Colo.; Almere, Netherlands; and Tijuana, Mexico.

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On the Net:

C-Cor.net: http://www.c-cor.net

AP-ES-03-30-01 1657EST © Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Mar 30, 2001 - 04:59 PM

California Regulators Order Bankrupt NorthPoint to Continue Service By Michael Liedtke The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Three days after bankrupt NorthPoint Communications, Inc., announced it will shut down its high-speed DSL network, the state Public Utilities Commission ordered the company to restore service to about 40,000 California customers. In issuing the order, PUC Commissioner Carl Wood said NorthPoint must give customers at least 30 days notice of its plans to terminate service.

Despite the order, it remained unclear whether customers will be back on line any time soon.

"We would love to honor the order, but there's nothing we can do," said NorthPoint attorney Michael Olsen. "NorthPoint is gone. We don't have any money."

The order affects only customers in California. NorthPoint has about 60,000 customers in 39 other states, mostly in New York, Masssachusetts, Texas and Illinois.

NorthPoint, currently operating under Chapter 11 and in the process of liquidating its assets, said Tuesday it would unplug its service after attempts to secure additional funding fell flat.

The service is being turned off now that NorthPoint's assets are being acquired by AT&T Corp. for $135 million under an agreement announced last week. AT&T chose not to acquire NorthPoint's struggling wholesale business in negotiating the deal.

In mid-January, NorthPoint president and CEO Elizabeth Fetter said a failed attempt to merge with Verizon had put her company in a poor position to continue operations.

NorthPoint has urged customers to contact their Internet service providers for further information regarding their online services.

DSL, which stands for digital subscriber line, is connected to a computer over a regular phone wire, but can carry data up to 25 times faster than a regular dial-up connection.

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On the Net:

http://www.northpoint.net

AP-ES-03-30-01 1658EST © Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Mar 30, 2001 - 06:08 PM

Company to Move by Year's End The Associated Press

STAMFORD, Conn. (AP)- Xerox is considering moving out of its current headquarters to either a smaller site in Stamford or another Fairfield County town. The company, which has been taking actions to deal with financial losses, sluggish sales and a precipitous drop in its stock price, is to make the move by the end of the year.

"We are changing our mix of business, our offerings, the way we go to market, our culture and our cost base. It's time we had a new home for a new Xerox," Anne Mulcahy, Xerox president and chief operating officer, said Thursday.

The copier company employs 350 people at its headquarters. The building, which was completed late in 1978, can hold 630 people and has a 630-car parking garage.

Xerox owns the land and leases the building in a long-term sale- leaseback agreement. The company said it plans to divest its interest in the site and expects a deal with an interested company to happen soon.

The headquarters move will not affect the Xerox Engineering Systems facility at Riverbend Center in another of Stamford, said Xerox spokeswoman Kara Choquette. Xerox put that division up for sale earlier this year.

Over the past year, Xerox has been selling or consolidating various real estate holdings around the world as part of its goal to cut $1 billion in costs.

The company laid off 2,000 workers last year and said it would lay off another 4,000 in the first quarter of this year.

On Friday, Shares of Xerox were up 17 cents, or nearly 3 percent, to close at $5.99 on the New York Stock Exchange.

AP-ES-03-30-01 1808EST © Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Mar 30, 2001 - 06:10 PM

IPIX Says It Has Been Cutting Staff, Posts Loss for Fourth Quarter The Associated Press

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) - Internet Pictures Corp. said Friday it has been cutting its work force by 60 percent since October and hopes to become profitable later this year. But IPIX, with headquarters in Oak Ridge and San Ramon, Calif., posted a wider loss for the fourth quarter which ended Dec. 31.

The company produces 360-degree still and video images for Web sites such as for real estate and entertainment.

In a bid to become profitable by the fourth quarter of this year, the company said it has cut operating expenses by 75 percent, was reducing its workforce by 60 percent from October levels and was eliminating 70 percent of its senior managers.

Spokesman Jeff Hooper would not say how many jobs were involved. But based on previous reports, the work force reductions would equal about 500 jobs from a October level of more than 800.

IPIX said Friday its operating loss was $24.6 million, or 40 cents a share, in the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31 versus an operating loss of $18 million, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $12.7 million from $5.3 million a year ago.

After charges, its net loss was $224 million, or $3.66 a share, versus a loss of $23.4 million, or 52 cents a share, a year earlier.

For the year, its operating losses reached $88.1 million, or $1.56 a share, compared with losses of $56.9 million, or $2.21 a share, in 1999. Revenue jumped to $53.7 million, from $12.5 million in 1999.

IPIX said its losses should narrow in fiscal 2001 with profitability expected by the fourth quarter.

"We had to make difficult decisions in order to advance our goal of becoming profitable while maintaining a leadership position in dynamic imaging and capitalize on our advanced technology," iPIX Chairman and CEO Jim Phillips said.

"The company will focus on near-term high margin opportunities while we delay the launch of several new initiatives due to overall economic conditions," he said. "We will aggressively enter new markets as economic conditions improve."

IPIX stock, which opened at $19 a share in October 1999 and climbed to over $40 last spring, has been trading at less than a dollar a share for more than a month and has been threatened with delisting by the Nasdaq market.

The stock fell to 15.6 cents a share on Friday, down 3 cents.

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On the Net:

Internet Pictures: http://www.ipix.com/

AP-ES-03-30-01 1810EST © Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

On tonight's news I heard that they're completely shutting down the factory in Waco where they make Levolor blinds. Think they said 125 or so would lose their jobs.

Moving production to Mexico. Really, really stinks.

-- Anonymous, March 31, 2001

After all we have seen, I don't know how the newscasters can say it's too soon to know if we will go into a recession. How many more places have to close down and people lose their jobs before they will admit we are in a recession now and it looks to be getting worse?

-- Anonymous, March 31, 2001