Dynegy Replaces CFO, Cuts 340 Jobs

Energy marketer and trader Dynegy Inc. laid off 6% of its workers and replaced its chief financial officer Wednesday as part of an overhaul designed to win back investors spooked by the Enron Corp. debacle.

Dynegy said last week that it was laying off workers as part of a restructuring plan, but did not announce the depth of the job cuts-- 340 worldwide--until Wednesday.

About 300 of the affected employees work at Dynegy’s Houston headquarters.

The layoffs came on the same day Dynegy replaced Chief Financial Officer Rob Doty with Louis Dorey. Dorey most recently headed Dynegy’s bread-and-butter gas and power marketing business.

Doty, 44, had worked for Dynegy for 10 years and had served as CFO since 2000.

Dynegy said Dorey’s ascendancy would help with the restructuring, which the company plans to discuss during a Monday conference call.

That plan probably will include asset sales, which Dynegy has been talking about since January.

Besides selling hard assets, including its profitable pipelines, Dynegy could enter into joint ventures in which it would manage and operate facilities for a partner, executives have said.

Analysts said Doty’s exit was the tail end of an executive shuffle that began with Chairman and Chief Executive Chuck Watson’s ouster May 28.

Watson resigned under board pressure in May, after the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating a natural gas deal designed to reduce Dynegy’s tax burden and a pair of “round-trip” energy trades it undertook at a customer’s request.

Dynegy shares closed down 99 cents, or 11%, at $7.71 on the New York Stock Exchange.