J&J CEO Says Job Cuts 'Skewed' To Outside US

Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) planned job cuts will be across all of its businesses and skewed to outside the U.S., the health-care giant's leader said Tuesday.

The New Brunswick, N.J., company said earlier it would cut about 6% to 7% of its global work force or up to nearly 8,200 positions, in a restructuring designed to reduce costs by $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion.

On a conference call with analysts, J&J Chief Executive William Weldon cited the weak economy as one factor in the restructuring.

"If you look at the future economically, I think there's challenges still ahead of us," Weldon said.

"Until we see easing in unemployment and other areas, people are going to be much more cautious in the way they spend resources," Weldon said.

Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso said analysts shouldn't adjust their 2010 earnings estimates to reflect Tuesday's restructuring announcement because he said it appears analysts already anticipated some savings.

Caruso did say that Wall Street views for 2010 don't appear to factor in the impact of U.S. health-care reform. He said the company would probably have more clarity on the potential impact in early 2010, and that Tuesday's actions weren't directly related to potential health-care reform.

-Peter Loftus; Dow Jones Newswires; 215-656-8289; [e-mail]