Imation plans to cut hundreds of jobs

Oakdale-based Imation plans to reduce its workforce by one-fifth next year as it tries to respond to stagnating sales.

Imation has about 1,100 employees worldwide, including 350 in Minnesota. The company didn't say where the cuts will come. If they're geographically proportionate, Minnesota's share would be 70 jobs.

"The pace with which we're moving forward has been too slow being impacted by macroeconomic factors around the world," said company CFO Paul Zeller in a conference call to investors Wednesday morning. "Given this, we've had to face several key realities. First, we no longer believe it's likely we'll see growth in total company revenues in the near term."

Zeller said Imation needs to reduce costs to improve profitability. The company says it will cut operating costs by 25 percent while focusing more on data storage and data security for business customers.

"Traditional media businesses are declining faster than we anticipated," Zeller said.

Imation also indicated it will explore the possible sale of consumer-oriented businesses, which include Memorex and TDK.

The company posted a net loss of $6.3 million for the quarter ending last month, as sales fell 20 percent. Imation was spun off from 3M back in 1996.