BellSouth Corp. said Monday it is scaling back its December plan for management job cuts, due to its agreement last week to be bought by AT&T Inc., and it forecast $100 million of charges in 2006.
BellSouth said it now expects to reduce its management work force by 1,300 people compared with its earlier plan to cut 1,500 jobs. It has roughly 63,000 employees.
The original plan announced Dec. 15 included voluntary cuts followed by involuntary layoffs, but it said Monday that it has now eliminated the involuntary cuts. It expects all the job cuts to be complete by the end of May.
The company, which already took a fourth-quarter after-tax charge of $52 million for the layoffs, said the latest decision would result in a $45 million credit against first-quarter results.
It expects to take a layoff-related charge of $85 million in the second quarter out of a total of $107 million charges including last year and this year.
BellSouth, the third biggest U.S. local telephone service, plans to be bought by AT&T for about $65 billion in a deal expected to close in about a year.