Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Home Depot Inc., the world’s largest home-improvement retailer, will cut 1,000 U.S. jobs as it shrinks its pool of human-resources and construction workers and closes three test stores.
Home Depot will start cutting most of the jobs by the end of the week, Ron Defeo, a spokesman, said today by telephone. The positions being eliminated are also in finance and real estate. The company will also add 200 jobs, resulting in a net loss of 800 positions, he said.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank Blake announced the reductions in a memo to employees today, saying it “makes business sense to consolidate some functions” as store construction slows. Defeo provided a copy of the memo by e-mail.
The job cuts include 150 at its Atlanta headquarters, Defeo said. Stores in Wilson, North Carolina; Waveland, Mississippi; and Austell, Georgia, with 100 employees will close in six to eight weeks after merchandise is sold, he said.
The three stores being closed didn’t meet Home Depot’s “targeted financial returns,” Defeo said, declining to elaborate. The company has no plans to close any of its traditional stores, Blake said.
Home Depot employed about 322,000 people as of Feb. 1, 2009, according to an annual securities filing. It listed stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Canada, Mexico and China.
Home Depot rose 11 cents to $27.73 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares rebounded by 26 percent in 2009 after sinking in the previous four years.
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