WorldCom To Cut Another 5,000 JobsWorldCom To Cut Another 5,000 Jobs

CLINTON, Miss. (AP) _ WorldCom Inc. announced plans Monday to cut 5,000 more jobs, or 8% of its work force, under a plan to emerge from bankruptcy in April.

The cuts are part of $2.5 billion in cost cuts the telecom giant announced Monday and are the first major moves by new chairman and CEO Michael Capellas. The savings will come through consolidation of facilities, though the company said it will maintain all its major offices _ including its Clinton headquarters, Washington-area offices and operations in Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Richardson, Texas; Tulsa, Okla.; and Cary, N.C.

WorldCom, which is losing about $200 million a month, has already been trying to cut costs by asking the bankruptcy court to let it vacate some leases and renegotiate or get out of some supplier contracts.

WorldCom has about 60,000 employees after cutting 20,700 positions last year following the largest-ever bankruptcy filing in U.S. history amid a $9 billion accounting scandal.

The company is being investigated by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission.

In an address to employees last month, Capellas was short on details, but said WorldCom would act with ``an outrageous sense of urgency'' to turn its business around following the scandal that led to the resignations of founder and former CEO Bernard Ebbers and chief financial office Scott Sullivan.

Sullivan is set to go to trial in the fall for allegedly ordering accounting executives to move operating expenses off the books, making WorldCom appear profitable when it was losing money. He has pleaded innocent and is free on $10 million bond. Ebbers has not been charged.

Capellas declined an interview request Monday, and a WorldCom spokesperson said the company is not releasing details about where the layoffs will occur or what facilities will be closed.

Sources knowledgeable about the latest cost-cutting plan said this round of 5,000 layoffs will be completed by March 1. Capellas has said he will release his three-year business plan by that same date.

Capellas said in a statement, ``A work force reduction is always a difficult decision, but we are confident that our overall cost reduction plan will help us emerge from Chapter 11 and make us more competitive in the marketplace in the long run.''

Telecom industry analysts have expected WorldCom, whose MCI unit remains the No. 2 long-distance carrier, to close some business units. But sources close to the company said Monday that no business units will close as part of this round of cost cuts.