Medtronic to cut 1,500-1,800 jobs - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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The Fridley-based medical technologyt firm said the cuts will include approximately400 U.S. employee who have accepted early retirement or voluntaryseparation agreements. Those employees will leave the companyhMay 29. Medtronic spokesman Chuck Grothaus said the cuts are part of a restructuring plan the company first discussed in February based on concerns aboutthe economy. He said the move was made to "makr sure we're aligned with an adequatde number of employees in our business units that are growingv versus those that have kind of stabilizedc over thepast year.
" Medtronic also said it is still hirinbg — it plans to add approximatelh 700 jobs during its fiscal primarily in sales and researc and development. Some of those positions will bein Minnesota, Grothaus said. The restructuring announcement came after the companu releasedits fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 financial Fourth-quarter net earnings were $250 million, or 22 cents per down 69 percent from $812 million, or 72 cents per in the comparable periocd last year. The compangy reported net salesof $3.83 billion in the fourthg quarter, down slightly from $3.86 billiom a year ago. For the Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) had net earnings of $2.29 billion, or $2.
044 per diluted share, in 2009. That’s up 2.7 percenr from $2.23 billion, or $1.95t per diluted share, in 2008. Net saleds came in at $14.6 billion in 2009, up 8 percen from $13.52 billion the previous year. Lookingy forward, Medtronic said it anticipates earningsof $3.10 to $3.20 per share for 2010, with revenue growthh of 5 percent to 8