Weatherford International job cuts now total 8,000
February 5, 2015Weatherford International said Thursday it has begun evaluating 3,000 positions to cut just a day after the UK-based company announced 5,000 lay offs.
The new cuts are expected to be complete before June, the Wall Street Journal said.
The two lay off rounds, prompted by weak oil prices, will trim Weatherford’s staff by about 15 percent and are expected to save the company over $350 million per year.
The company expects its head count to be under 50,000 by the end of 2015.
The first round of lay offs will primarily impact workers in the Western Hemisphere.
The cuts will streamline decision making, eliminate staff duplication and reduce the number of “handshakes” between any employee and the CEO to five across the company, Fuel Fix said.
CEO Bernard Duroc-Danner said the changes will help Weatherford “operate a leaner, flatter, fast organization.”
Weatherford reported a fourth quarter net loss of $475 million, or $0.61 per diluted share, up from a $271 million loss during the same period last year.
The company booked a 2014 fourth quarter revenue of $3.73 billion, down slightly from $3.74 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013.
“The notion that a small imbalance in worldwide capacity versus demand in 2015 has caused an 1986-type market condition is quite amazing to the economist I used to be. But regardless, we are taking strong action and this market as an opportunity as much as punishment,” Duroc-Danner said.