Nov. 19, 2001 – San Francisco, CA – Agilent Technologies has doubled the number of planned job cuts to 8,000 as business for the test and measurement company continues to decline.

This would reduce its work force by 18% by the middle of 2002, according to a company release discussing fourth quarter results.

In addition, Agilent’s senior management teams will be on 10% pay reductions starting in Q1. Depending on local laws and regulations, the company will implement the equivalent of a 5% pay reduction for the rest of its employees starting in Q2.

“The persistent downturn in the key markets we serve kept orders very weak in our test and measurement and semiconductor products businesses,” said Ned Barnholt, chief executive of Agilent. He predicted that the recovery in business would be delayed and “more gradual than we expected”.

Agilent reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $197 million, or 43 cents a share, due to the $646 million sale of its healthcare business group. In the same quarter a year ago, it earned $305 million, or 67 cents a share.

Revenue was forecast to decline sequentially to $1.25 billion to $1.4 billion, with a loss of 40 to 60 cents a share, in the current quarter.

Revenue for the fourth quarter was $1.6 billion, a 12 per cent sequential decrease and a 47 per cent plunge from $3.02 billion in the year-ago period. For the full fiscal year, revenue was down 10 per cent at $8.4 billion from $9.4 billion in the prior year.

It reported an operating loss of $206 million for the year compared with a profit of $995 million in the previous year.