Borders Eliminates 274 Spots
by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 6/3/2008 7:26:00 AM
The anticipated cuts at Borders were announced this morning with the bookstore chain saying that it has eliminated a total of 274 positions.
The majority of the cuts came in its Ann Arbor headquarters where 156 jobs were eliminated, with the company reporting that the cuts occurred in virtually all departments such as marketing, IT finance and human resources. While some cuts came in the merchandise group no changes were made in the newly reorganized buyer/planner group. An additional 118 spots were eliminated in Borders’s distribution centers, field marketing organization and corporate sales division. Borders stressed that with a few exceptions none of the cuts came at the store level and a spokesperson said there are no plans to reduce the number of store employees. The cuts represented about 20% of Borders’s corporate positions but only 1% of its total workforce.
The downsizing was made to reflect the current state of Borders, which has a much smaller Waldenbooks and international operations than it did a couple of years ago. The cuts are part of Borders overall effort to reduce annual expenses by $120 million over the next 18 months.
