AT&T; to Cut Jobs at Computer Unit : Labor: Operations will shrink as well at money-losing Global Information Systems. Refocus of markets is cited.

AT&T; Corp. said Friday that it will cut an unspecified number of jobs and reduce operations at its money-losing Global Information Systems computer unit, which employs 42,800 people.

“We are planning some decisive action to reduce costs and refocus the business,” spokeswoman Adele Ambrose said.

The company said it is moving out of the consumer goods, transportation and government markets to concentrate on financial, retail, communications, services and media markets instead.

It will continue to serve existing clients in those markets where future business is no longer being sought. Additional cost cuts and a more aggressive commercial approach are to be applied across all businesses, it said.

GIS, based in Dayton, Ohio, is largely made up of businesses acquired with NCR Corp., bought for $7.5 billion in 1991. It has been unprofitable overall since 1991, and in the last two quarters losses have turned into a cash hemorrhage.

GIS lost $89 million in the second quarter after losses of $143 million in the first quarter and a $14-million profit a year earlier. The company had said such performance was unacceptable.

“It’s the application of the first tourniquet,” said industry analyst Bob Wilkes at Brown Bros. Harriman. “They seem to have figured out which businesses have no future.”

No details were available on how many jobs were going. The company said an announcement was made public to coincide with one made to GIS employees.

“We are just at the moment deciding how big this business should be, and we won’t know that until the end of the third quarter,” said Mark Siegel, a spokesman for the computer unit.

Analysts said GIS has been hit by a change in the computing industry. Low-margin personal computers are now much more frequently used than larger, traditional computer systems in which NCR specialized.

At the same time, AT&T; has lost out to smaller and faster-acting companies in market niches where computing and software continue to command high profit margins, they said.

AT&T; stock closed up $1.375 at $53.625 on the New York Stock Exchange, with a good portion of the gain coming after the announcement.