DETROIT (Reuters) - Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co posted a deeper-than-expected quarterly loss on Wednesday under the global economic slowdown and said it would cut 5,000 jobs worldwide, or 6.7 percent of its staff.
Goodyear, the largest U.S. tire maker, said it had raised its cost-cutting targets, would freeze salaries worldwide and would cut production capacity in response to the downturn. The cost cuts add to previously announced restructuring plans.
The tire maker posted a net loss of $330 million, or $1.37 per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $52 million, or a 23 cents per share profit, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, Goodyear posted a loss of $1.18 per share, while analysts on average expected a loss of $1.13 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue fell to $4.1 billion in the quarter from $5.2 billion a year earlier as tire production fell 19 percent worldwide.
(Reporting by Soyoung Kim and David Bailey, editing by Maureen Bavdek)
