Windstream is buying rival EarthLink for about $673 million in stock.
Both companies provide internet service, cloud computing and other services.
And both of them have a substantial presence in Rochester. Windstream, which moved downtown several years ago has a building at Main and Clinton, and now has about 650 employees in the Rochester area.
EarthLink has space at the Alexander Park complex at Monroe Ave and Alexander Street. There are currently 375 EarthLink employees in Rochester.
The statement about the merger refers to the two companies identifying $125 million in synergies.
At Brighton Securities, George Conboy says he wouldn’t be surprised to eventually see that result in some local cost cutting.
“I think it’s reasonable to expect that after the merger closes you could see job cuts in two main areas, I think there’s overlap in sales and marketing, I think there is some overlap in some of the engineering components of those two businesses."
Spokespeople for both companies tell us representatives of Windstream and EarthLink will evaluate staffing needs, but there’s no word yet how that might affect the local job count.
