Update: DuPont Expected To Cut 1,700 Jobs In Delaware

Shares of

were trading higher by nearly 2 percent early Tuesday afternoon after reports surfaced of mass job cuts in Delaware. According to

, DuPont will eliminate about 1,700 jobs in Delaware in early 2016. The company's CEO Ed Breen confirmed layoffs will occur in a memo to the roughly 6,100 Delaware employees on Tuesday. The publication noted DuPont is required to detail the layoffs in a state filling which is due by December 31. "Especially given that we are in the middle of the holidays, we would have preferred to wait until individual notifications were complete before reporting the full local impact," Breen wrote in the memo. "… I wanted you to hear the difficult news – directly from me …" Most of the job cuts will occur prior to DuPont's merger with

is finalized. The job cuts are part of the company's planned global cost savings and restructuring initiative which is expected to save the company $700 million. "DuPont's announcement today is deeply disappointing, especially to the thousands of Delawareans who helped this company grow and succeed for generations," Delaware Online quoted Gov. Jack Markell as saying in a statement. "DuPont's number one asset is its people, and the innovations that the company has produced during its storied history are a testament to the quality of those people. For those affected by today's announcement, they should know that the State will do all that it can in the coming months to assist them as they evaluate new opportunities."