Seagate Says it Has No Plans to Fire More Workers in Singapore
Bloomberg News
July 16, 1998, 5:55 a.m. ET
Seagate Says it Has No Plans to Fire More Workers in Singapore
Singapore, July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Seagate Technology Inc.,
the world's largest maker of disk drives, said it had no plans to
fire more workers in Singapore.
The Scotts Valley, California-based company is the island-
state's second-biggest private employer, accounting for about 2
percent of gross domestic product, analysts say.
In January, it cut about 10,000 workers or 10 percent of its
worldwide workforce as disk-drive prices plunged and demand for
personal computers slowed. Among them were 1,800 workers in
Singapore, where the company had about 18,000 employees.
''It's still very competitive out there,'' said William
Watkins, executive vice president of Seagate's disk-drive
operations. ''But I think we're pretty comfortable where we're
at, especially in Singapore.''
In the past month, several major electronics companies such
as Adaptec Inc. and Motorola Inc. have fired workers in Singapore
as demand for their products weakened and Asia's currency and
debt crisis hurt sales.
Watkins said Seagate is counting on ''a lot more mileage on
the cost-saving side'' to boost its gross profit margin, which
was 18.9 percent in the fourth quarter ended July 3, after two
quarters of losses. Gross profit margin is the percentage of
revenue remaining after costs of production are subtracted.
--Linus Chua and Claire Leow in the Singapore newsroom (65) 438- |
