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To: Alex who wrote (20010)	9/28/1998 8:40:00 PM
From: banco$	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116767

Layoff reports are rolling in; Gillette is the latest. The unemployment nadir may have been reached in March/April. Headlines back then..."lowest unemployment seen in 24 years." The next U.S. report is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 2. Gillette To Lay Off 4,700 Workers By ROBIN ESTRIN Associated Press Writer BOSTON (AP) -- Gillette Co. (NYSE:G - news) will lay off as many as 4,700 employees as part of a worldwide reorganization plan. The layoffs announced Monday account for 11 percent of the company's 43,000-employee work force. Gillette also plans to close 14 factories, 12 warehouses and 30 office facilities worldwide. The reorganization means lower-than-expected earnings for the third quarter. The company will take a one-time after-tax charge of about $350 million, or 30 cents a share, for the quarter. Gillette officials wouldn't say where the job cuts would be made, but about 80 percent of all Gillette employees work in some two dozen countries outside the United States. ''We cannot be specific about the location and the timing'' of the cuts, said Patricia Klarfeld, a Gillette spokeswoman. About half of the 12,000 U.S.-based workers are in Massachusetts, where the company is headquartered. Gillette also has facilities in California, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin. The affected employees will be given severance packages and other benefits, Klarfeld said. The reorganization, which will be completed in 18 months, will allow the company to respond to ''changing business conditions'' in its six main divisions, including razors and blades, batteries and oral hygiene products, company officials said. Founded in 1901, Gillette controls 70 percent of the men's shaving products market and 50 percent of the women's market. The company also makes Oral-B toothbrushes, the Braun line of products, alkaline batteries and writing instruments. Gillette's 1997 sales totaled $10.1 billion -- $2.9 billion of that in blades and razors. Manufacturing operations are conducted at 63 facilities in 26 countries, and products are distributed in over 200 countries and territories around the world, a company spokeswoman said. Earlier this year, Gillette announced it was investing $300 million over two years to promote a new triple-blade razor, called the Mach3, which went on the market in late June. Also this year, the company launched a $40 million promotional campaign for its Gillette for Women line of shaving products.