Bethlehem Steel Posts Big Loss

Bethlehem Steel Corp. said Wednesday that it lost $638 million in the fourth quarter and will cut 6,500 jobs and try to sell some operations.

The steelmaker reduced its earnings by $575 million in the fourth quarter to pay for the restructuring.

Bethlehem said it lost $8.47 per share in the three months ended Dec. 31, higher than the loss of $516.8 million, or $6.91 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue fell 14.2% to $1.03 billion from $1.20 billion in the same quarter of 1990.

The planned job cuts would reduce its work force of 26,500 by 24.5% by the end of 1993, spokesman Art Roth said.

The company said it will put its Johnstown-based Bar, Rod and Wire Division and its Steelton-based track-work fabrications operations up for sale. The company said all existing customer orders will be filled.

“We haven’t set any time, but the time frame is a matter of months,” Roth said. He said Bethlehem would know fairly quickly whether it had any serious buyers.

The sale of the Bar, Rod & Wire Division will eliminate 2,600 jobs from Bethlehem’s payroll. About 1,900 of those employees are in Johnstown. There are about 350 employees in each of the division’s plants in Lackawanna and Sparrows Point.