Consumer electronics manufacturer Hewlett-Packard (HP) is said to cut around 30 000 jobs in the coming weeks. According to news sources, HP’s chief executive Meg Whitman plans to use the funds saved from the layoffs on “increasing the efficiency of the company’s sales force and on creating new products.”
Executives, who spoke to the media on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for the company, said that the process will be approached through layoffs and voluntary retirements which will stretch throughout the whole company.
“The total could be as much as 10 percent of H.P.’s 324,000-person work force. China, which is one of H.P.’s highest growth areas, will probably be spared, as will its research and development efforts,” wrote the New York Times.
Whitman took the reins of the company in September last year, and one senior executive said she is “trying to build a new company. You can count this as a part of that.”
While the layoffs haven’t been officially announced, analysts expect the statement to be made on Wednesday when HP declares earnings for its second fiscal quarter.
“Considered a slow-moving giant in the tech industry, HP had revenue of $127 billion in fiscal 2011, but net earnings of just $7.1 billion. While it has a leading position in the sales of low-margin personal computers, HP has been late or unsuccessful in many recent tech trends like providing cloud computing services for big companies and smartphones and tablet computers,” the New York Times added.
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
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