AT&T sheds 4,600 employees : Job cuts follow integration of AT&T with SBC

AT&T Inc. announced it will be firing about 4,600 employees, or 1.5% of its workforce, as it continues to integrate staff between AT&T and SBC Communications Inc. SBC acquired AT&T in a $16 billion deal in 2005.
The company said the bulk of the cuts will come from management positions; the company’s overall headcount is expected to remain stable throughout the year as it hires more employees to support growth.
“This initiative is part of the company’s move from a collection of regional companies to one AT&T focused on customers,” the company wrote in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “The vast majority of employees will not be impacted, and headcount overall is expected to remain stable in 2008 as the company hires employees to support growth areas.”
None of the cuts will hit AT&T Mobility, the company’s wireless division, AT&T spokesman Walt Sharp said. “Wireless is a growth area for us,” he said. “This is all on the wireline side.”
AT&T said it will take on a pre-tax charge of $374 million in the first quarter of 2008 due to the job cuts. The carrier plans to release first-quarter financial results April 22.
AT&T’s stock was up 24 cents to $37.81 per share after the news.