Thomson Multimedia SA is planning to restructure some of its international operations ahead of the privatization of its parent Thomson SA, Le Monde reported. The paper also said France’s Lagardere SA conglomerate and the Alcatel Alsthom engineering group, who are rival bidders for Thomson SA, would give their offers for the privatization to the finance ministry yesterday. The paper said Thomson Multimedia would use $233m in provisions set aside in its first-half results to carry out the reorganization. Citing several unamed sources, the paper said Thomson Multimedia was planning to close eight sites in the US, Germany and Southeast Asia. It said the restructuring, which would not affect operations in France, would result in the loss of about 5,000 jobs from a workforce of 49,500.
