Applied Materials axes jobs, wall street not worried - The Fab Line - Company Business and Marketing - Brief Article

Electronic News, Nov 11, 2002

AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS OF SPECULATION AMONG THE INVESTment and financial analyst community, Applied Materials Inc. last week cut about 1,750 jobs, or about 11 percent of its workforce. The company's Silicon Valley locations will be hit the hardest, as the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company plans to cut 800 jobs from its operations there.

A further 200 jobs will go from Applied's Austin facility. The remaining cuts will take place at locations across the United States and the rest of the world. Applied said it expects the layoffs to be completed by the end of its fiscal Q1, which ends Jan. 26. Perhaps because the news was already on the rumor mill, Wall Street reaction was mild; analysts theorized that the layoff decision probably was made after orders dipped at the end of summer and that orders have since reached bottom and stabilized.