Hartford, Connecticut-based Aetna said it was ditching 6,000 jobs from its 37,000 workforce because rising medical costs are reducing membership levels.
Meanwhile, Lucent Technologies, a Murray Hill, New Jersey-based telecoms equipment maker, said it expects sales to drop to $3.1bn-$3.4bn during the final three months of the year, down from $4.8bn during the previous three-month period.
The company blamed a sustained slump in capital spending by telecoms operators.
Slump poised for turnaround?
Lucent, formerly part of AT&T, has been in deep trouble for some time, racking up losses of more than $8bn in the last-reported three months of its business year.
It said losses for the first quarter of its next business year would come in at 23-26 cents a share, compared with mean analyst forecasts of a 17 cent-a-share loss.
But the company said the final three months of 2001 will mark the bottom of the market downturn.
It said it expected to return to profitability in its next business year.
However, investors weren't convinced, pushing Lucent's share price 93 cents lower to $6.80 at about 1630 GMT.
Profitability over size
Aetna said the latest round of lay-offs was designed to "to properly align our business resources with lower membership levels and our stated goal of emphasising profitability over size".
"With health membership levels in 2002 expected to decline materially as a result of implementing pricing that is more reflective of projected medical cost trends... we must be sized to match the needs of our business," said chairman and chief executive John Rowe.
The company is to take a $125m after-tax charge in the fourth quarter to pay for the restructuring.
Analysts said the job cuts are aimed at scaling the company down permanently.
"From a medical membership perspective, it is going to be a smaller company," said John Rex, analysts at Bear Stearns.
"As a result they need to resize the administrative infrastructure."
Aetna shares were trading 12 cents lower at $30.92 at 16.30 GMT.