Goodyear Cutting 700 Jobs to Trim Costs

AKRON, Ohio January 16, 203; The AP reports that Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will eliminate 700 salaried jobs to trim costs, the world's largest tire maker said Thursday.

Nearly 500 positions will be eliminated through layoffs by March 31. Another 200 positions have been left vacant through attrition since Oct. 1.

In addition to 350 salaried jobs eliminated in its hometown of Akron, another 34 hourly positions will be cut at its Akron Technical Center. The other cuts will be across North America.

Goodyear said the cuts would save $80 million annually, including $75 million this year. The company will take a pretax charge of $75 million to cover costs related to the cuts.

"We must improve our cost structure, simplify our business processes and operate more efficiently while continuing to serve our customers," said Robert J. Keegan, Goodyear's president and chief executive officer.

Last week Keegan sent a letter to 95,000 worldwide employees saying that the company wanted to reduce costs with job cuts, reduced production or a shift of production to low-cost facilities.

In recent years Goodyear's stock price has plunged 75 percent to levels not seen since 1990. Goodyear shares dropped 12 cents to close at $6.86 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

For the first nine months of 2002, Goodyear lost $600,000, compared with a net loss of $29.6 million, or 19 cents a share, the year before.