AT&T announces major job cut initiative

AT&T announces major job cut initiative

US based telecom giant AT&T has announced that they are going to cut 12,000 jobs from their operations as they aim to cut costs.

This comes to around 4% of their global workforce.

The company said that these jobs would be eliminated over the remainder of 2008 and 2009.

AT&T would be taking a charge of about $600 million in the fourth quarter the current year for severance.

Credit Suisse analyst Chris Larsen spoke about this announcement from the telecom giant: “The job cuts should not be surprising given the weakening trends in the residential wireline business.”

UBS analyst John Hodulik added: “While the weak macro environment is taking its toll on the business, we believe the cuts show the large telcos … have levers they can pull to partially offset the effects of the slowdown.”