Monday, February 16, 2009

Embarq Cost Cutting Nets Profit

Embarq is merging with CenturyTel this year. They just sold off their money losing Logistics business at a $40M loss, when all is said and done. Crazy, right?

But all the cost cutting that Embarq has been doing for the last 18 months, including cutting pension benefits to retirees, has resulted in $191 Million in profit in 4Q08 despite heavy line losses.

Revenue went from $1.58 billion to $1.48 billion. ... The number of lines Embarq serves dropped nearly 10 percent in 2008. In the fourth quarter alone, Embarq saw 157,000 line losses, up from 91,000 in the same period a year ago. [Kansas City Star]

Embarq blamed the line losses on the economy as people choose to go with cellular only phone plans. Here's hoping the 911 system is updated soon to take into account so many cell-only households.

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