Company Gets $1.6B, Fires Workers

How’s this for an odd juxtaposition: MSNBC/AP

Struggling server maker Sun Microsystems Inc. accepted a $1.6 billion settlement from Microsoft Corp. and said Friday it plans to cooperate with its longtime nemesis. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)

agreement was accompanied by an announcement by Sun that it is cutting 3,300 jobs and that its net loss for the fiscal third quarter will be wider than expected. The cuts represent 9 percent of its total work force of more than 35,000.

One would think that, having $1.6 billion more in its coffers than yesterday and freeing itself from a costly legal struggle would be a good thing! Unless the 3,300 jobs were all lawyers. . . .

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