for $925 million. The move made Xerox the second largest player in the U.S. shading laser printer market. In October 2000, the organization reported a second loss of $167 million from the last quarter, its first quarterly misfortune in 16 years, and launched the first in a series of rebuilding projects. Planning to reduce its annual operating costs by $1 billion, Xerox has placed various stakes in the part. At the end of the year, it sold its subsidiaries in China and Hong Kong to Fuji Xerox for $550 million. At that point, in March 2001, Xerox sold much of its stake in Fuji Xerox to Fuji Photo Film for more than $1.3 billion in real money, diminishing its enthusiasm for the joint venture. In another key move, Xerox has outsourced much of its global assembly operations to Flextronics International Ltd., meanwhile offering Flextronics factories in Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Brazil. A few other non-core operations were also sold as part of this upgrade, which removed a total of 11,200 positions from the payroll. In 2001, a further rebuild, which aimed to refine the center of the organization, saw Xerox withdraw product offerings aimed at the small office and home office segment. Around 1,200 additional workers were laid off. In April 1998, Xerox announced a real alternative rebuild, as its workday towards the advanced world had caused it to use more overhead than its rivals. The organization cut 9,000 jobs over the next two years, taking in $1.11 billion after contributions during the second quarter of 1998. The cuts took place at a time when Xerox was enjoying deals and profits records as well as the rising stock market value. The organization was therefore clearly proactive in maintaining the strength it had acquired through its impressive