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To: RealMuLan who wrote (24385)	2/25/2005 11:21:53 AM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Mittal Steel May Cut 8,000 Jobs a Year for Five Years (Update1) Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Mittal Steel Co. NV, set to become the world's largest steelmaker next month, may shed as many as 8,000 jobs a year through 2010 to cut costs after the purchase of International Steel Group Inc., the company's owner said. ``We want to focus on cost,'' Lakshmi Mittal, the company's billionaire owner, said today at a meeting with analysts and investors in Chicago that was broadcast on the company's Web site. The workforce may shrink to ``110,000 employees after five years'' from about 150,000 after the International Steel Group purchase, he said. Between 7,000 and 8,000 jobs may be cut annually over five years to improve profit margins, Mittal said. The Rotterdam-based company expects to complete the purchase of Richfield, Ohio-based International Steel from financier Wilbur Ross by the end of March. Lakshmi, 54, has built the world's biggest steel business from one plant in Indonesia in 1976 by acquiring steelworks in low-cost countries and making them profitable by cutting jobs, investing in technology and lowering procurement costs. After the International Steel purchase is complete, Mittal Steel will have a market capitalization of $26 billion and will be capable of producing 58 million metric tons of steel, about 24 percent more than its nearest competitor, Luxembourg-based Arcelor SA. Mittal Steel employs around a third of its workforce in Kazakhstan, where it owns 11 coal and iron-ore mines and makes steel products that are shipped to China and elsewhere. Kazakhstan, Asia Mittal Steel plans to shed jobs at its Karmat facility in Kazakhstan, and the company has cut 3,000 ``in the last couple of years'' in South Asia to reduce its total workforce to 13,000, Mittal said. In Romania it cut its workforce from 27,000 to 17,000, he said. Mittal didn't say where the job losses would occur. In North America, ``the exact number of employees will have to be decided when we complete the transaction,'' said International Steel Group Chief Executive Rodney Mott said today in a telephone interview. United Steelworkers of America spokesman John Duray said in an interview that he doesn't expect job cuts in the U.S. because of guarantees in the union contracts and high productivity at the plants. Chief Financial Officer Aditya Mittal, Lakshmi's 29-year-old son, said the company will invest $1.5 billion this year on expanding its plants, focusing on Eastern Europe. bloomberg.com