NEW YORK (CNNfn) - General Electric Co. is set to cut about 75,000 jobs over the next two years, Business Week magazine reported Thursday, citing Wall Street sources and people close to the company.

The magazine said those cuts, equal to about 15 percent of its work force, do not include the 28,000 jobs being lost due to the closing of the discount retailer Montgomery Ward, a subsidiary of GE Capital.

GE (GE: Research, Estimates) stock rose 33 cents to $46.31 in afternoon trading.

GE spokesman Gary Sheffer said it's clear the Fairfield, Conn.-based maker of aircraft engines, light bulbs and other products does need to trim jobs in light of its pending acquisition of Honeywell International, but declined to comment on the total number.

The magazine said the job cuts were largely due to GE's acquisition of 120,000 workers from its merger with Honeywell in the next several weeks. GE is likely to cut up to 50,000 Honeywell jobs, according to analysts who have spoken to GE execs, the report said.

The cuts would be unlike anything since GE CEO Jack Welch took the helm of the company in the 1980s, it added.

GE denies company-wide layoffs

"We have no layoff targets and no company-wide numbers. We never announce overall layoffs because we don't plan for them across GE," Sheffer said. "We leave it up to individual businesses to decide what actions are necessary to meet their objectives. However, it's clear we'll need fewer jobs at GE because of redundancies from the Honeywell acquisition, the Montgomery Ward bankruptcy, modest volume-related reductions and GE's digitization activities."

According to BusinessWeek, the cutbacks reflect the slowdown in the U.S. economy, the acquisition of Honeywell and GE's push to transform its business divisions into e-businesses.

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analysts told BusinessWeek that GE may eliminate 5,000 to 10,000 jobs in appliances, lighting, broadcasting, and plastics. Those divisions are all vulnerable to swings in the economy, and they posted marked slowdowns in sales in the fourth quarter as car manufacturers, computer makers, retailers and other key customers cut back on orders.

Honeywell may bear the brunt

But the biggest cuts are expected to come from the Honeywell unit. GE agreed to acquire Honeywell in October in a $45 billion tax-free merger.

Last week, Honeywell reported sharply lower fourth-quarter earnings, which also missed Wall Street's expectations citing higher raw materials costs and merger-related issues.

We have no layoff targets and no company-wide numbers. We never announce overall layoffs because we don't plan for them across GE Gary Sheffer GE spokesman The report follows an announcement last month that retailer Montgomery Ward is closing its doors in light of weak performance in a slowing economy.

And last week, media company NBC, another GE property, announced it planned to lay off up to 560 people, about 10 percent of its work force, in the wake of declining advertising sales.

Other future layoffs could come from productivity gains from digitization and "modest volume-related layoffs or reductions related to the economy, but very small from a company-wide standpoint," Sheffer said.

-- kevin (ktross@mailcity.com), February 01, 2001