California-based Callaway Golf yesterday "cut 250 employees from its worldwide workforce of 2,100," according to James Achenbach of GOLFWEEK. The company said that the 12% reduction of staff and "other initiatives are expected to generate $52 million in gross annualized savings and will cost an estimated $40 million -- more than half anticipated non-cash charges -- during the next 12 months." Callaway Golf President & CEO Chip Brewer said, "It's painful stuff. It keeps you up at night. The reality, though, is that we had too many costs and too many people. So we had to make those tough decisions." He added that Callaway would come out of the restructuring "leaner and more agile." Brewer: "The Callaway consumer will benefit from all this. That's why they hired me." Looking ahead to '13, Brewer promised "exciting new products that people will be talking about" (GOLFWEEK.com, 7/11). Callaway said that the cuts "would occur across the board, including at least one senior vice president position." In San Diego, Mike Freeman notes Brewer's "early steps to fix Callaway include simplifying the company's business to focus on its core Callaway and Odyssey brands." The company "will release second quarter earnings" on July 26. The layoffs and revised earnings forecast were announced "after markets closed." Callaway shares "fell nearly" 9% yesterday to close at $5.66 on the NYSE (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 7/12).
