Procter & Gamble to cut jobs, shut down factories

The Associated Press

CINCINNATI -- Procter & Gamble, maker of such household mainstays as Tide, Crest, Pringles and Pampers, will eliminate 15,000 jobs and close 10 plants worldwide over the next six years.

The move is designed to cut costs and enable P&G to introduce new products faster. The cuts amount to 13 percent of P&G's worldwide work force of 110,000. That includes 4,300 jobs in North America, 1,900 of them in the Cincinnati area, P&G's headquarters city. The company has manufacturing facties in Kansas City, Kan.; St. Louis; and Jackson, Mo., near Cape Girardeau. The company has been criticized for its slow-moving bureaucracy, and Wall Street had been waiting for changes by its new chief executive, Durk Jager. P&G said the restructuring is essential if the company is to meet its stated goal of improving profits and doubling its worldwide sales within 10 years despite intense competition in the United States and abroad. The company said 10,000 jobs will be eliminated by the middle of 2001, with the remaining 5,000 to be cut after that. Forty-two percent of the job cuts will occur in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 29 percent in North America, 16 percent in Latin America and 13 percent in Asia. Jager said the estimate of about 10 plant closings includes one in Wakefield in the United Kingdom, which the company announced was closing two weeks ago. He declined to identify other plants being shuttered but said they probably would include some from the baby care, feminine protection and hair care businesses. Jager said some workers will be laid off, but P&G will try to make maximum use of retirements, relocations, voluntary departures and reductions in hiring. Wall Street, which bid up P&G stock late last week in anticipation of the restructuring, sent the shares tumbling Wednesday after details of the reorganization were disclosed. P&G's stock closed down 29/16 at 921/4 a share Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. P&G was among the most heavily traded stocks during the day.

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