HP to cut 15,000 a year ahead of schedule
The new Hewlett-Packard (HP) is planning to cut 15,000 jobs a year ahead of schedule in response to slower-than-expected market recovery.
In her first address to analysts yesterday, HP boss Carly Fiorina said that the 15,000 job losses would be made by November 2003, a year ahead of the date given in March’s $19bn (£13bn) merger with Compaq.
The cuts account for 10% of HP’s total staff. Firorina said the reduction in head count would save $3bn by 2004, $500m more than previously expected.
HP also failed to back predictions that the IT market may pick up in the second half of this year, saying that its revenues could drop by as much as 10 per cent in the fiscal year to October as any upturn in spending slows.
Fiorina said that the recovery was ‘slower…than any one of us would have liked,’ a view echoed by former Compaq chief, Michael Capellas.
The jobs cuts are expected to see 4,000 staff take early retirement with another 11,000 laid off.