Williams-Sonoma to Cut Jobs, Close Distribution Center
Williams-Sonoma, a retailer of home furnishings and gourmet cookware, has become the latest retailer making cutbacks because of the recession. Reuters reports that the company will cut 1,400 jobs (18% of its workforce). They will also close a call center in Pennsylvania and a distribution plant in Tennessee.
The company also pared projected capital spending for this year, and said it expects further overhead cost cuts in catalog production, information technology and logistics.
It expects to save about $75 million in costs on a pretax basis for 2009.
The company, which also operates Pottery Barn stores, still expects diluted per-share earnings at the low end of a previous range of 10 cents to 30 cents a share for its 2008 fourth quarter, even after taking a charge tied to the cost cuts.
The cuts are expected to be made by the end of the month. William-Sonoma's net revenues fell 22.6% over an eight-week holiday period ending Dec. 28th.
See also Bloomberg, AP, SFist and Bizjournals.com.
