Select Comfort Cuts Headquarters Jobs

December 16, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in economic news on December 17, 2008 Citing slowing sales after Thanksgiving, Select Comfort is cutting 120 jobs at its Minneapolis headquarters, a reduction of 22 percent, and has also halted the implementation of SAP technology.

Company officials said the cutbacks and other reductions the company is considering will save $15 million on an annualized basis. Select Comfort, which sells its products through more than 470 company owned stores, expects to incur a charge of approximately $35 million in the fourth quarter, primarily through asset impairments—about $4 million is severance and other cash costs.

"During the course of the year, we've navigated through an extremely difficult macro-economic environment by focusing on reducing our cost structure and improving product margins," said President and CEO Bill McLaughlin. "We expect these macro-economic challenges to continue and possibly worsen in 2009. Therefore, we've taken additional actions to better align our cost and cash structure with our 2009 outlook for the economy."

The company previously said it plans to close 20 stores in the first quarter of 2009 and will continue to examine its store base to shut additional locations throughout 2009.