A round of layoffs at Comverse Technology Inc. (Pink Sheets: CMVT.PK), which have been discussed since August, is set to get underway. Over the coming month, about 500 workers around the world, or 12% of its workforce, are set to be laid off.
About 200 of the layoffs are expected to be employees in Israel.
This is the fourth round of layoffs since the recent economic crisis began.
Apparently, the company, led by CEO Andre Dahan, will not cut all the jobs at once. It has not yet determined the final actual amount of layoffs.
Comverse said in reponse, "As a public company, we cannot refer to market estimates."
The current round of layoffs began to be discussed by the company's management as far back as August, and it was expected that the cuts would take place in October, after the Jewish holidays. However, management postponed the cuts and now is expected to carry them out next month.
In March of 2009, the company laid off about 300 workers worldwide, of whom 100 were in Israel. Comverse remained then with about 4,150 .workers worldwide. Before the cuts in March, there had been two previous rounds of layoffs, in which about 500 workers lost their jobs.
Comverse shares closed unchanged at $9.30 on Friday, slightly below their 52-week high of $9.90.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 24, 2010
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