The plant has about 625 employees, including those that are being eliminated. The plant produces frozen dough and fresh-baked items for supermarkets. Hazelwood Farms was founded by Wetterau Inc., which sold out to Supervalu about three years ago. The privately held company is the first multimedia firm to react to the retail shopping season that never was. Although stores and businesses have yet to reveal their Christmas sales numbers, they have complained that shoppers came out later and spent less than they had in the past.
Industry analysts expect some multimedia companies to feel the post-holiday pain.
The company laid off mostly secretarial and support staff. Most of the engineers and game developers kept their jobs. After struggling in the disk drive business for years, Micropolis Corp. said Tuesday that it agreed to sell the bulk of its operations to an unidentified buyer. The undisclosed purchase price would include using the Micropolis name, leaving the Chatsworth-based firm to search for a new one. The company said it has laid off 52 employees at its 500-worker corporate office.