Employees of Hemlock Semiconductor Group, co-owned by The Dow Chemical Co., will not be affected by Dow’s decision to cut about 700 jobs in the Great Lakes Bay Region.
Advertisement
Michigan-based Dow Chemical announced it’s cutting about 2,500 jobs around the world, or about 4 percent of its workforce, as it completes full ownership of Dow Chemical.
Dow Chemical announced earlier this month that it was now the sole owner of Dow Corning’s silicones unit, which had previously been equally owned by Dow Chemical and Corning Inc.
It’s part of restructuring coming as the company takes full control of Dow Corning.
Dow has four facilities throughout the Houston area, including two in La Porte.
The Midland-headquartered company will also close “certain administrative, corporate and other manufacturing facilities to further enhance competitiveness and…”
Dow Chemical now anticipates annual cost savings for the transaction to be $400 million, up from its prior estimate of $300 million.
Next month, Dow and DuPont shareholders vote on the companies’ merger plans.
Dow’s shares are trading down about 1% Tuesday morning at $48.97 in a 52-week range of $35.11 to $57.10.
Advertisement
Dow Chemical Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris has shed commodity assets such as chlorine while adding higher value products such as silicone used in tires and electronics. DuPont plans to eliminate 10% of its 63,000 employees by late this year when the merger, the largest ever in the chemical industry, is expected to close.
