Seagate spokesperson Joyce See confirmed this with CNET Singapore today. The company's total workforce now stands at 12,000.
In late January, the disk drive maker said it had 14,000 employees here, including those from its Ang Mo Kio disk drive plant, Woodlands recording media factory, New TechPark customer service operation and Senoko printed circuit board assembly plant.
The company, which is the second-largest private-sector employer here, also has a storage tape factory at Kallang and a research and development facility at the Singapore Science Park.
Last December, Seagate had already laid off 1,000 people here which represented about 7 percent of its total workforce of 15,000.
On Wednesday, Seagate announced it will be bought over by Veritas Software and a team of investors led by investment group Silver Lake Partners in a US$20 billion deal, which will lead to Seagate becoming a private company again. The transaction is expected to close in 90 to 120 days, said a Seagate spokesperson.
News of the buyout cast the fate of Seagate's local and regional employees into another round of uncertainty.
See declined to comment on any future lay-offs or plant closures in Singapore and the region. However, she said that a conference call with Charles Pope, Seagate chief financial officer, is scheduled for April 13 to answer any media query on the company's regional operations.
In late January, Michael Stears, Seagate senior vice president of disk drive operations, said the company has no plans for disk drive plant closures up to June. Seagate has four disk drive operations in Asia, including two in China, one in Malaysia and one in Singapore.
Stears also said there will be no workforce reduction in its disk drive operations in China and Malaysia up to June, but declined to comment on the situation in Singapore for the same period.
In early January, the company closed its Tuas plant here and moved its recording media operations to Woodlands. Also in the same month, Seagate shut down its Senoko operation and relocated 2,000 employees to its Ang Mo Kio disk drive plant. These moves, the company said, are part of the local retrenchment exercise announced last September, to be completed by this June.
| Previous coverage |
- Will Seagate's privatization start a trend? March 31 2000
- Seagate acquired in US$20 billion deal March 30 2000
- No disk drive plant shutdowns after CNY, says Seagate January 21 2000
- About 500 bid farewell at Seagate AMK plant January 21 2000
- Seagate Senoko plant employees' fate uncertain January 17 2000
- Sayonara Senoko, says Seagate January 17 2000
- AP contributes all-time high 25% to Seagate's Q2 revenues January 12 2000
- Seagate denies early closure of Tuas plant December 31 1999
- Seagate will not shut down any Malaysian plants October 13 1999
- Seagate's hard decisions paying off October 13 1999
- Seagate to lay off 8,000 September 15 1999
- Seagate will lay off 1,000 in Singapore by year-end September 02 1999
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