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Kodak, Cessna Paint Bleak Picture; More Job Losses Loom


Fallout from the global recession is spreading, hurting companies making everything from cameras to corporate jets.

U.S. photography pioneer Eastman Kodak says it will eliminate up to 18 percent of its workforce - 4,500 jobs - because of plunging sales for traditional film and digital photography products.

The 129-year-old company says it lost more than $130 million over the last three months of 2008.

Meanwhile, aircraft maker Cessna says it will eliminate an additional 2,000 jobs as orders for new planes decline. Cessna's parent company - Textron - also makes military helicopters and golf carts. It says it lost hundreds of millions of dollars at the end of last year.

U.S. financial services company Charles Schwab says it will cut up to 600 jobs over the next three months.

And the drug industry is also shedding more jobs.

European pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca says it will eliminate about 15,000 jobs by 2013.

U.S. drug giant Eli Lilly says it lost more than $3 billion in the fourth quarter.

Smaller drug companies also say they cannot rest easy. The maker of the popular sleeping pill Lunesta is cutting 20 percent of its workforce, 530 jobs.

Still, people are finding reasons to smile. Colgate-Palmolive - the world's largest maker of toothpaste - says its profits jumped 20 percent in the fourth quarter.

The airline industry continues to be hit hard by the economic slowdown.

Continental Airlines - the fourth biggest U.S. carrier - says its 2008 fourth quarter loss grew to $266 million. U.S. Airways says it lost $541 million for the quarter. And JetBlue reports a $49 million loss over the same period.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters

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