Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, October 8, 1999
Wall St. slams Xerox after profit warning
STAMFORD, Conn. -- Shares of Xerox Corp. posted their biggest decline in at least two decades after the world's biggest copier maker warned that third-quarter profit will fall in part because of increased competition. Xerox closed down $10.25, or 24 percent, to $32.50 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the biggest drop since at least January 1980. The company has shed almost half its market value this year, reducing it to $21.5 billion. Xerox hired Chief Executive G. Richard Thoman in 1997 to battle Hewlett-Packard Co. and Canon Inc. for dominance in the office-equipment industry as customers demand one machine that copies, prints, faxes and scans documents.
Under pressure, Nike unveils factory sites
BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Nike, the largest manufacturer of athletic shoes, disclosed the domestic and overseas factories where its college-licensed products are made after student activists fighting sweatshop conditions demanded disclosure. Beaverton-based Nike disclosed the sites Thursday on its Web site, www.nikebiz.com, listing addresses where shoes and clothing are made for five universities: Arizona, Duke, Georgetown, Michigan and North Carolina. The five universities, after student protests, had said they would cut ties with Nike and other firms that failed to disclose manufacturing information by March.
IBM cutting back PC work force
NEW YORK -- IBM Corp.is cutting up to 10 percent of its personal computer work force, or up to 1,000 employees, in a cost-cutting effort to turn around the division, which lost nearly $1 billion last year. The 5 percent to 10 percent reduction in the 10,000-person staff will mostly hit marketing employees as the company consolidates its staff for different brands -- including Aptiva PCs, ThinkPad laptops and Netfinity computer servers -- under one marketing umbrella. The company, which employs 291,000 people overall, does not expect any layoffs and said it will offer employees in other divisions.