Weatherford International, a Houston-based oil field services company, announced deep cuts and the intention to delist from the stock exchange today.
Among the actions announced are a "headcount reduction" of a quarter of its American employees, and furloughs and pay reductions for the remaining American employees.
According to a post on the company's website, "the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent actions by certain producing nations have had an unprecedented disruption on the supply/demand equation for oil, resulting in a precipitous decline in commodity prices and substantial reductions to the capital spending plans of exploration and production companies."
Weatherford's response includes:
- Temporary pay reductions of 20% for management and to the Board of Directors' annual cash retainer;
- Total headcount reductions across North American operations and the global support structure of 38% and 25%, respectively;
- Furloughs and pay reductions for remaining employees in the United States and selected international locations;
- Reducing planned capital expenditures by approximately 50% in 2020 versus 2019 levels; and
- Further consolidating geographic and product line structures to better align with market conditions.
As of December 31, the company had 24,000 employees worldwide.
The post indicates that things did improve in the first quarter.
"Despite the challenging environment, the Company's preliminary financial results improved during the first quarter of 2020 due to operational and cost reduction initiatives," the post states.
However, the company decided to abandon its appeal of its delisting by the NYSE last year.
"The Company has been evaluating its options with respect to its NYSE listing and, after careful deliberations, the Board of Directors has determined that delisting is in the best interest of the Company. As such, the Company will withdraw its appeal to the delisting proceedings by the NYSE," the post states.
The company now will voluntarily delist, the post states.
