Goodyear Plans to Cut as Many as 2,800 Jobs

AKRON, Ohio — Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the biggest U.S. tire maker, said Wednesday that it will cut up to 2,800 jobs, about 3% of its work force, as it moves to revive profit and combine with Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.

Goodyear also said profit fell 35% in the fourth quarter to $115 million, or 74 cents a share, as a decline in costs failed to offset falling tire prices and slackened demand from Asia and Latin America. Revenue fell 1.5% to $3.22 billion. The results, which exclude one-time items, beat estimates by 1 cent.

Goodyear said it will take a restructuring charge of $100 million to $150 million, the amount it expects to save each year from the cuts. About 1,300 jobs will be cut at its Gadsden, Ala., plant; tire production will be shifted to other U.S. facilities.

Production also will be reduced at several plants in Asia and Latin America, where weakening demand for tires was partly to blame for a 36% drop in Goodyear’s fourth-quarter profit.

The Sumitomo deal would create the world’s largest tire maker, allowing Akron, Ohio-based Goodyear to save money by reducing jobs and prices for raw materials.

About 200 workers are expected to remain at the Gadsden plant, which opened in 1929. Workers who lose their jobs will be given preference when applying at other Goodyear plants, the company said.

Its stock ended up $1.63 at $52 on the New York Stock Exchange.