WorldCom to cut 4 percent of work force

? Telecommunications giant WorldCom Inc. is eliminating 3,700 jobs in the United States about 4 percent of its global work force to reduce costs.

The cuts announced Wednesday were in the company’s WorldCom Group, which includes its high-growth data, Internet and international businesses.

The company has significantly reduced its 2002 revenue-growth and profit expectations for WorldCom Group. WorldCom’s worries also include some $24 billion in debt and a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting practices and loans made to executives.

The job cuts, spread across the country, amount to 6 percent of WorldCom Group’s employment, and 4 percent of the company’s 75,000-member global work force.

WorldCom, based in Clinton, Miss., also is the nation’s second-largest long-distance provider, which it operates through its MCI Group.

In trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, WorldCom shares fell 27 cents to $6.51.