Just five months after its last round of layoffs, Comverse Technology Inc. (Nasdaq:CMVT) looks set to fire hundreds more. Last week the company's management met in New York to discuss laying off between 5%-10% of Comverse's employees, including employees in Israel.
The final decision on the matter was not taken, but the company is expected to move ahead with this latest round of layoffs in October or November at the latest.
Comverse said, "The company does not respond to speculation."
Only last March, Comverse fired 300 employees worldwide, 8% of their total work force, including 100 in Israel. That round of layoffs left Comverse with 4,150 employees, and in the upcoming cuts the company is expected to let go between 210-415 employees. Half of Comverse's work force is employed in Israel and the company's headquarters are in Ramat Ha-hayal, Tel Aviv.
Prior to the layoffs in March, Comverse had implemented two previous rounds of layoffs, in which 500 people lost their jobs. Comverse CEO Andre Dahan said at the time, "We believe that we are behaving responsibly given the present economic climate, and I trust all of you to assist us in navigating the way forward in implementing the plan."
Comverse is one of Israel's oldest high-tech companies and was responsible for the invention of telephone voice mail. Today the company provides telecom and cellular operators with software solutions and billing services.
Comverse is suffering, like so many other companies, from the global economic crisis, and must cope by reducing expenses through layoffs. The company has not published financial reports for more than three years following a complication regarding options backdating. However, this problem has now been solved and Comverse is expected to report by the end of the year, or February 2010 at the latest.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 16, 2009
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