Most important, earnings from tourism, a cornerstone of the economy and a key source of foreign currency, had slid nearly 40 percent in five years.

As of June 30, the company employed 55,745 people; the number has dropped slowly but steadily in the last few years as earnings slid.

Technology companies have already begun warning that sales and earnings will probably slide.

A separate report showed that earnings, adjusted for inflation, slid nine-tenths of 1 percent in August, after two consecutive monthly increases.

Mr. Akers's compensation was shaved by 3 percent, while the company's earnings slid 35 percent.

Had there been no restructuring charge, the 1992 fourth-quarter earnings would have slid about 1.4 percent.

A result was that in 1996, Children's Discovery's earnings slid 68 percent.

Its earnings slid recently, for instance, sending its price-to-earnings ratio to a lofty 58.

For all of 1992, earnings slid by more than 85 percent compared with 1991, to $99 million.

I.B.M.'s earnings have been sliding for several years, falling to $5.8 billion last year, from $6.58 billion in 1984.