WorldCom Inc. declined to comment today on a report in Tuesday’s USA TODAY that the embattled company is considering slashing about 16,000 jobs, or 20 percent of its work force.
WorldCom employs 80,000 people around the world, spokeswoman Claire Hassett said.
The Clinton, Miss.-based telephone and Internet provider has morphed from a Wall Street superstar to an ailing telecom company staggering under diminishing revenue and approximately $30 billion in debt.
WorldCom’s management is finalizing job cuts that could be proposed to the board of directors for approval within weeks, the USA TODAY report stated. It cited executives familiar with the plan. Many of the cuts are likely to be in network operations, the paper said.
“We will certaintly seek to rightsize our business but to speculate on the details would be premature,” Hassett said.
WorldCom’s stock price has taken a thrashing this year, culminating in speculation the telecom titan would have to file for bankruptcy protection. Former CEO Bernie Ebbers resigned in April. His replacement, John Sidgmore, is charged with the task of turning the beleaguered telecom company around.
WorldCom recently helped to allay liquidity concerns by obtaining $1.5 billion in new financing last month, and executives said they expected to secure a $5 billion credit line later this summer.
Sidgmore recently promised the company would issue a detailed plan for reorganization, de-leveraging and other balance sheet efforts within the next several weeks.
