Wednesday, March 11, 2009

National Semiconductor 8K - Cutting staff and executive pay

"On March 10, 2009, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the commencement of actions to align expenses with current and projected revenues. As a result, the Company will reduce the size of its global workforce by approximately 850 in areas such as product lines, sales and marketing, manufacturing and support functions. The majority of these affected employees will depart before the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. In addition, the Company intends to further reduce headcount by approximately 875 over the next 12-24 months through the eventual closure of the Company’s wafer fabrication facility in Arlington, Texas and the Company’s assembly and test plant in Suzhou, China. As a result of these actions, the Company expects to incur total charges of approximately $160 million to $180 million, primarily for severance, asset impairment and other exit-related costs, of which $130 million to $145 million are expected to be recorded in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. Severance costs will primarily be incurred in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 upon notification of all affected employees and are expected to be approximately $65 million to $70 million; substantially all of these severance costs will consist of cash expenditures. Charges related to asset write offs are expected to be approximately $63 million to $70 million. Other exit-related costs relate to closure and transfer activities which are expected to be $32 million to $40 million, substantially all of these other exit-related costs are expected to result in cash expenditures. On March 11, 2009 the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors approved an arrangement temporarily reducing the base salaries of each of the Company’s executive officers during the fourth quarter fiscal 2009 and first quarter fiscal 2010. As a result, the gross bi-weekly salary of Messrs. Halla and Macleod will be reduced during that period by 25% and 15%, respectively, and that of each other executive officer by 10%."