Dow scrambles after releasing layoffs news prematurely

According to Reuters, Dow had planned to announce layoffs today, along with its third-quarter earnings, but it scuttled that plan after a draft copy of the press release about the restructuring was accidentally sent to Bloomberg News on Tuesday night.

Instead of a Thursday release, the official layoff announcement and earnings report came late Tuesday evening.

Dow did not respond to PR Daily’s email, so it’s unclear exactly what took place in the company’s public relations or investor relations departments on Tuesday leading to the errant draft press release.

A spokesman for Dow told The New York Times, “We had an inadvertent premature release, and we moved quickly to take care of it.”

Jeff Corbin, CEO of KCSA Strategic Communications, speculated that someone made a mistake.

“But [Dow] made the right call releasing both [pieces of news] early,” he added. “Otherwise there would have been speculation all day during trading on Wednesday.”

Corbin’s firm handles investor relations, as well as public and media relations and marketing.