Seagate cutting about 6,000 jobs with Maxtor deal

[UpInArms]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060522/bs_nm/maxtor_seagate_dc

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Computer hard-drive maker Seagate Technology (NYSE:STX - news) on Monday said it planned to cut about 6,000 jobs as part of its just completed $1.9 billion acquisition of rival Maxtor Corp.

Seagate, the biggest U.S. hard-disk drive maker, said the job cuts would come from Maxtor's workforce of about 12,000, meaning about 50 percent of that company's would not offered positions with new Seagate.

The company said the job cuts, which will mostly impact workers in Europe and the United States, would be finished by the end of the year.

Seagate, in completing its purchase of Maxtor on Monday, said the deal would increase earnings per share by 10 percent to 20 percent after the first year of combined operations.

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Maxtor job cuts number in the hundreds in Longmont, Colorado

LONGMONT – Seventy-five percent of Longmont's Maxtor employees will lose their jobs, following the completion of the company's acquisition by data storage rival Seagate Technology Corp.

The $1.9 billion, all-stock sale was announced in December, and officials from the two companies closed the deal Friday.

Maxtor employs slightly more than 850 people at its facilities in Longmont, according to the Longmont Area Economic Council, meaning that about 650 people will find themselves out of work.

<snip>

Martini said she didn't know what would become of the 450,000-square-foot Maxtor facility on Clover Basin Drive. Maxtor had a lease on that building through 2018.

In a Monday morning teleconference, Seagate President and CEO Bill Watkins announced details of his company's takeover of Maxtor. He said 50 percent of Maxtor employees worldwide will be offered positions with Seagate, although 90 percent of them will be in Asia.

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[lindisfarne]

1. Will this merger make Maxtor better, or Seagate worse (shudder)? n/t

[0rganism]

2. It will eliminate Maxtor and make Seagate's stock go up

Rationale for this crap is seldom rooted in any actual improvement to quality of product or corporate infrastructure. I wouldn't be surprised to see Seagate get annexed sometime down the road, when it posts a few consecutive quarters of low earnings and their stock drops back into the basement.

[Tempest]

5. Look for Lenovo to make a bid for Seagate in the next two years

Lenovo's computer business is booming and the IBM hardware division they purchased can't keep up with demand.

It makes sense for Lenovo to keep all its production in-house.

Western Digital won't break off their hard drive business and is too big for Lenovo to go after, so that leaves Seagate.

[Tempest]

4. Seagate will get better, Maxtor will be killed off

Drives may still get made under the Maxtor name, but they will be built by Seagate.

A great drive is getting replaced by crap.

[Sgent]

3. This will get Seagate

in the low end market -- where they presently don't compete.

[donco6]

6. My coworkers husband was laid off through this.

He's pretty bummed.