Royal Ahold NV, the Dutch retailer
that inflated three years of earnings, said it may fire about 650
administrative workers in the United States as it combines the headquarter
operations of its Giant and Stop & Shop supermarket chains.
The job losses would come at Giant’s Landover, Md.,
headquarters, the company said in a statement. Giant has about
26,000 employees.
Royal Ahold said in January it will close its U.S. retail
headquarters in Chantilly, Va., and move the business to the
Boston area. Chief Executive Anders Moberg is trying to trim debt
enough for the company to regain its investment-grade rating by the
end of 2005. The company last year fired executives at its U.S.
Foodservice business after earnings were overstated by $1.2 billion.
Giant Food LLC operates 199 supermarkets in Maryland,
Delaware, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Stop & Shop, based in
Quincy, Mass., operates 339 stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
Bloomberg News
