Posted on 05/19/2009 3:08:42 AM PDT by Son House
As part of the newest cost-cutting plan, American Express also plans to scale back investment spending and make further cuts to operating costs, including professional services and travel.
"While we have remained solidly profitable at a time when some parts of the card industry were incurring substantial losses, we continue to be very cautious about the economic outlook and are therefore moving forward with additional reengineering efforts to help further reduce our operating costs," said Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive officer in a release.
The 4,000 layoffs will result in a restructuring charge of about $180 million to $250 million in the second quarter, American Express said.
The deep cost cutting shows even a company like American Express, which prides itself on catering to a more affluent clientele, is not immune to the pullback in consumer spending.
The company's customers are more heavily concentrated in California and Florida, where the slumping housing market is taking a toll. American Express also has a higher percentage of small-business customers, and small businesses tend to miss payments more than individuals, executives have said.
American Express first announced its plan to embark on the additional cuts last month when it reported its first-quarter results. For the first three months of the year, the company's profit fell 63 percent. It marked the sixth-straight quarter of profit declines.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
As Obama regime and the democrat party have declared total war on the productive elements of society, it would be wise for companies to downsize as much as possible to survive the dark days ahead.
Companies are also beginning to relocate outside of the US, especially in the energy sector, under heavy attack by the democrats. A number of oil and gas industry companies are fleeing the USA, relocating their corporate headquarters to Switzerland and elsewhere.
I’m sure the Dow will go up 500 points on this news...
Hey, Paul Krugman said the other day that the worst of the recession is over!! So relax, everything is fine. Nothing to see here, move along.
Obama’s fault
This must be good news because the markets keep going up.
Just when will the sycophantic press corps start to ask some real questions about the anointed ones disastrous economic policies?
Before the socialist dictator Hussein and his comrades in the democrat party makes things like reducing operating costs illegal.
Thats gonna leave a mark.
They will keep and expand their call center outside New Delhi. It will take over more accounts.
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