Bosses get richer, workers poorer. ho-hum.

Margaret mairead at mindspring.com
Sun Jan 24 03:28:16 PST 1999


"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merger-related layoffs soared in 1998 to nearly double the level of 1997, reflecting a slew of high-priced mergers and acquisitions, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported on Monday. Job cuts resulting from mergers totaled 73,903 in 1998, up 99.6 percent from the 1997 total of 37,033, the international outplacement firm said. The annual merger-cut figure was the highest since 1995, the first year the firm began tracking such data. Merger-related cuts comprised 11 percent of the total 677,795 job cuts announced last year, Challenger said. While the number of mergers remained relatively moderate in 1998, the high price tags of many of the mergers that did take place forced companies to make big staff cuts in order to cut costs, the report said. The number of mergers in 1998 totaled 11,630, just 4 percent higher than the prior year's total. But the value of last year's mergers and acquisitions jumped 80 percent to $1.6 trillion from $907.5 billion worth of deals announced in 1997. Nine of the 10 highest-priced mergers and acquisitions in U.S. history

occurred in 1998, Challenger said."

Note that the mergers 'forced' companies to get rid of people. No responsibility there, just the inevitable result of physical law at work.



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