MutualFundWire.com
The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication
an InvestmentWires' Publication
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MutualFundWire.com
The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication |
|
Tuesday, April 24, 2001 Bowne Makes More Cuts Bowne (NYSE: BNE), the financial printer and Internet consultant, is making additional program and staffing cuts. These are in addition to cuts the firm made back in January. Among the casualties is Immersant, Bowne's Internet consulting business. In the area of employees, the firm is making a 10% cut in staffing in its financial printing unit. Between this cut and the closing of Immersant, the firm expects to eliminate 650 positions. Officials at the firm state that the Web consulting business was feeling the deleterious events in that market segment in general. The unit had been affected by delays and cancellations of customer orders. This shutdown will result in charges of approximately $18 million to $20 million, of which $1.5 million is a cash charge for severance costs. "Immersant was certainly not immune to the rapidly deteriorating environment for Internet consultants. While we believed that we could eventually have brought this business to profitability, we decided that, given the market instability and the realization that this unit required more investment capital than was prudent, we took a hard look at the future of this business and made the tough decision to exit the domestic web consulting and development business and focus our resources on our higher-potential global solutions business," contended Robert M. Johnson, chairman and ceo. At this point, Bowne's 401(k) print business (headquartered primarily in Carlstadt, New Jersey) is unaffected by the cuts as are the mutual fund services, William Coote, treasurer at the firm, told the MFWire.com. "We do not foresee a need for additional cuts at this time, but we are always evaluating and reevaluating the marketplace. We will make decisions as the capital markets continue to fluctuate," he stated. Bowne will announce its first quarter earnings on May 10. Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=26698 Copyright 2001, InvestmentWires, Inc. All Rights Reserved |