Hoffman Estates, IL, Oct. 24—Sears will cut a total of 4,900 jobs, or 22% of its staff, resulting in a savings of $600 million per year. The move came after the company released it’s fiscal third quarter earnings of $262 million, or 80 cents per share, compared to $261 million, or 76 cents per share last year. The latest number matched the forecast for earnings in a survey of analysts by Thomson Financial/First Call.

Sears will trim 3,600 salaried positions from its stores and field organizations over the next 18 months and 1,300 jobs from its headquarters by 2003.The company also stated that it’s comfortable with analysts' current full year 2001 consensus estimates of $4.09, excluding non-comparable items and net securitization income.

The job cuts mark another blow for Sears, which was once a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Traditional department store retailers have been suffering in recent years in the face of lower priced competitors such as Wal-Mart.

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