Motorola has apparently put on hold an announcement that it plans to close its plant at West Lothian, Scotland with the possible loss of 3,000 jobs. Meanwhile, in the internet sector, 147 companies have shut down since the start of the year.
Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday spoke to Motorola’s president in an attempt to avoid the closure at the plant and, according to BBC Online, the decision to close the plant is on hold. The original announcement came as Motorola issued an earnings forecast saying it expects to incur a loss in the second quarter of this year. Its loss in the first quarter was $206 million, compared to a profit of $481 million in the first three months of last year.
The following statistics were yesterday given in a report by research group Webmergers.com:
- Buyers spent more than $13 billion to acquire 380 internet companies in the first quarter (Q1) of 2001.
- The sum of $2.2 billion was spent buying dot.com companies in Q1, down dramatically from $52 billion spent in Q1 of 2000.
- Q1, 2001 shutdowns total 147 compared to just 5 in the same quarter last year and 222 for the full year 2000.
- 2001 has seen increased shutdowns among access providers and professional services firms and a relative decline in e-commerce shutdowns compared with 2000.
Webmergers attributed the decline in number of deals and in spending to “the extreme caution among buyers, a dramatic decline in valuations and a relative lack of large blockbuster deals.”