Seagate Cutting Exec Pay, Axing 3000 Jobs

Hard drive manufacturer Seagate announced on Wednesday that it will be cutting the salaries of executive staff by up to 25 percent, as well as axing 6 percent of its worldwide workforce.

This comes two days after the company revealed that it would lay off 10 percent of its U.S. employee base. In a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Seagate stated that about 2950 workers would lose their jobs, a number which is included in the 10 percent cut in the U.S. workforce.

Additionally, Chairman Stephen Luczo, who replaced CEO Bill Watkins and president Dave Wickersham, will have his salary reduced by 25 percent, along with several other "named executive officers and executive vice presidents." Senior vice presidents will have their salaries reduced by 20 percent. Vice presidents will receive a cut in salary by 15 percent while supervisors, other management etc. will lose 10 percent. Seagate estimates a saving of $80 million every year from the reduced paychecks.

Seagate estimates that restructuring should be mostly completed by the end of March, and will incur a $90 million pretax charge. Salary cuts and the reduced employee base will save Seagate a total of approximately $130 million per year.

Seagate's share prices have fallen to a current price of $4.29.