Berkshire Eliminates 21,000 Jobs amid Slump

(page 2 of 2)

Story Tools

Fruit of the Loom had more than 34,000 workers at the end of 2008, according to Berkshire's most recent annual report, the largest total among its operating units. John Shivel, a spokesman for Bowling Green, Kentucky-based Fruit of the Loom, declined to comment.

Carpet, Bricks

Buffett told shareholders at the firm's annual meeting in May that he expected more cuts at Berkshire following reductions last year at Clayton Homes Inc., which builds manufactured housing, and brickmaker Acme Building Brands. Berkshire reported its first quarterly loss since 2001 in the first three months of this year. The firm returned to profit in the second and third quarters, helped by an advance in the stock market.

Shaw Industries, the carpet and flooring manufacturer, eliminated 600 jobs in March as it shuttered yarn facilities in Georgia, according to Employment Spectator. The company said in September it planned to cut another 430 jobs in the state, the Associated Press reported. Julius Shaw, head of investor relations for the Dalton, Georgia-based company, didn't return a call seeking comment. Shaw had about 29,000 workers at the end of 2008.

"We will be adding people at some point, but we won't do it until we see the demand come back," Buffett said in a September interview conducted by the CEO of Business Wire, the Berkshire unit that posts corporate press releases. "It'll be a little slow because we don't want to go through what we did before. Although, I will guarantee you that three years from now, our brick companies, our carpet company, and our insulation company will all be employing far more people than now."

Newspapers, Furniture

Berkshire's Buffalo News, which started the year with about 846 employees, cut approximately 100 jobs through voluntary attrition, said newspaper Vice President Daniel Farberman. Most of the cuts came on the production side of the business, he said in an interview.

"Advertising has been a challenge all through 2009, although we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

Jordan's Furniture eliminated "dozens" of jobs this year in Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reported on April 25. Attempts to reach a representative of Jordan's yesterday were unsuccessful and the company's voice-messaging system said corporate offices in East Taunton, Massachusetts, would be closed through Christmas.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net; Peter Eichenbaum in New York at peichenbaum@bloomberg.net.