Published: Thursday, November 5, 2009
Business briefs: Microsoft plans 800 more layoffs around world
Microsoft Corp. says it is cutting 800 more jobs. That’s in addition to the 5,000 layoffs it announced in January. Lou Gellos, a Microsoft spokesman, said Wednesday the cuts are being made in offices around the globe. He would not say what specific product groups or job types are affected. Gellos also says Microsoft had already let nearly all of the 5,000 go, in what was the company’s first-ever widespread layoffs. Microsoft also said in January it would continue to hire in key areas such as Web search. The software maker, based in Redmond, employed about 94,000 people as of the end of December 2008. At the end of September, about 91,000 people worked for Microsoft, indicating the company has added 2,000 jobs this year after letting 5,000 people go.
Service sector grows in October
The U.S. service sector grew for a second straight month in October, but at a slower pace than in September, as a broad economic recovery creeps along. The Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday that its service index dipped to 50.6 last month from 50.9. Any reading above 50 signals growth. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a 51.5 for the index that tracks the country’s hospitals, retailers, financial services companies and truckers. But new orders, an augur of future activity, rose to 55.6, from 54.2 in September. Business activity also rose. Still, the decline in employment worsened. The employment tracker has contracted for 21 of the past 22 months.
Port of Everett to study mill cleanup
The Port of Everett has agreed to spend as much as $200,000 for additional tests to determine what work is needed to clean up a former Weyerhaeuser mill site along the Snohomish River. The property is designated for cleanup under the Puget Sound initiative, and the studies of the soil and the sediment below the water level will help determine the extent of the cleanup and who might have to help pay for it. The port purchased the property years ago. “We don’t know what to expect there and we need to clean it up so we can move forward with it,” the port’s Jerry Heller said.
Cisco CEO says orders improving
Cisco Systems Inc. Chief Executive John Chambers said Wednesday that the company’s latest quarterly numbers reinforce his observation that recession-dampened orders are improving after passing a “tipping point” this summer. Net income for the world’s No. 1 maker of computer-networking gear dropped 19 percent and sales fell 13 percent, but still topped Wall Street’s forecasts. The stock climbed 82 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $24.11 Wednesday. Cisco said net income was down 19 percent from the year-ago period to $1.8 billion, or 30 cents per share. Excluding one-time charges, Cisco earned 36 cents per share, ahead of the average analysts’ expectation for 31 cents per share in net income, on that same basis.
From Herald news services
Service sector grows in October
The U.S. service sector grew for a second straight month in October, but at a slower pace than in September, as a broad economic recovery creeps along. The Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday that its service index dipped to 50.6 last month from 50.9. Any reading above 50 signals growth. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a 51.5 for the index that tracks the country’s hospitals, retailers, financial services companies and truckers. But new orders, an augur of future activity, rose to 55.6, from 54.2 in September. Business activity also rose. Still, the decline in employment worsened. The employment tracker has contracted for 21 of the past 22 months.
Port of Everett to study mill cleanup
The Port of Everett has agreed to spend as much as $200,000 for additional tests to determine what work is needed to clean up a former Weyerhaeuser mill site along the Snohomish River. The property is designated for cleanup under the Puget Sound initiative, and the studies of the soil and the sediment below the water level will help determine the extent of the cleanup and who might have to help pay for it. The port purchased the property years ago. “We don’t know what to expect there and we need to clean it up so we can move forward with it,” the port’s Jerry Heller said.
Cisco CEO says orders improving
Cisco Systems Inc. Chief Executive John Chambers said Wednesday that the company’s latest quarterly numbers reinforce his observation that recession-dampened orders are improving after passing a “tipping point” this summer. Net income for the world’s No. 1 maker of computer-networking gear dropped 19 percent and sales fell 13 percent, but still topped Wall Street’s forecasts. The stock climbed 82 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $24.11 Wednesday. Cisco said net income was down 19 percent from the year-ago period to $1.8 billion, or 30 cents per share. Excluding one-time charges, Cisco earned 36 cents per share, ahead of the average analysts’ expectation for 31 cents per share in net income, on that same basis.
From Herald news services
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