BUSINESS MEMO: AT&T SCALES BACK LAYOFFS

AT&T Corp., under fire for its generous executive salaries at a time it was announcing layoffs of 30,000 employees, said fewer workers will be fired.

The nation's No. 1 long-distance carrier said it will now lay off 18,000 workers as part of a plan to trim 40,000 jobs over the next two years as it splits into three companies.

It still plans to eliminate all those jobs, but fewer people will be fired because 7,300 people took a buyout offer instead of the 6,500 the company expected.