Unemployment Start To Track To 9%: Sprint (S) Fires 8,000 (VOD)(VZ)(T)

January 26, 2009 by Douglas A. McIntyre

Water_lilies_4Sprint (S) weakened by an eroding position in the US cellular business as it losses subscribers to Verizon Wireless (VZ)(VOD) and AT&T (T) and rocked by the broadening recession, fired another 8,000 people today, a horrible bookend to the 20,000 Caterpillar (CAT) cut earlier in the day.

According to the company, Sprint "will take actions in the first quarter of 2009 to reduce internal and external labor costs by approximately $1.2 billion on an annualized basis. The actions include the elimination of approximately 8,000 positions within the company, which is expected to be largely completed by March 31."

It is a good bet that the firm’s fourth quarter numbers will be awful.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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