Mattel Inc., the world's largest toy company, is eliminating 1,000 jobs to cope with the worsening economic meltdown, the Los Angeles Time reported on Friday.
The job cuts included 170 positions at its headquarters in El Segundo near Los Angeles, according to the paper.
The cuts amount to about 3 percent of the firm's worldwide workforce, the paper quoted a company statement as saying.
Mattel said the job cuts resulting from the "current economic environment" would be made through a combination of layoffs, retirements, attrition and the elimination of open positions, the paper reported.
Professional and administrative staff positions are being particularly hard hit -- targeted for a reduction of about 8 percent, said the paper.
Analyst Linda Bolton Weiser of Caris & Co. said she was surprised by the job cuts. "This is a serious move for the company."
She said Mattel Chief Executive Robert Eckert is known for vigorously trying to preserve jobs -- "not the type to slash and burn."
Weiser said Mattel, which had strong earnings the last two years after a somewhat rocky period, has been hampered lately by rising costs of manufacturing in China and "needed to offset that with something."
In a report issued Thursday on Mattel, analysts for Wedbush Morgan Securities said the company would continue to be plagued by cost difficulties, at least in the near term, according to the paper.
The report said costs would probably remain high in the fourth quarter before trailing off modestly in the first half of next year.
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