FedEx Corp laid off 1,000 employees to meet job cuts the package delivery company announced were coming after third-quarter earnings dropped 75 per cent.
FedEx said half of the dismissed workers, all of whom were salaried or management employees were employed in Memphis, where the corporation and its largest operating unit, FedEx Express, are headquartered.
Before the cuts, FedEx Corp had about 33,000 employees in the Memphis area and 290,000 workers worldwide.
Spokesman Jess Bunn said the cuts were company-wide.
"The decision to reduce the work force across our companies was difficult but unavoidable given the global economic recession and its effect on our business," Bunn said. "This is all we have planned now."
FedEx announced that job reductions were pending when it released third-quarter earnings last month.
"We started notifying people this morning," Bunn said.
The company reported earnings of $97 million, or 31 cents a share, compared with $393 million, or $1.26 a share, a year earlier in the December-to-February period. Revenue fell 14 per cent from the previous year, to $8.14 billion, and 14.7 per cent from the previous financial quarter.