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Analysts expect massive HP layoffs

Thousands of jobs are projected to be cut after new chief Mark Hurd weighs in on earnings.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
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Stephen Shankland
2 min read
Hewlett-Packard is likely to lay off thousands more employees, financial analysts have projected after new Chief Executive Mark Hurd presented his inaugural assessment of quarterly earnings.

Hurd didn't reveal specific layoff plans after the earnings report, but he did make clear HP's intent to cut expenses and said his company has "a cost structure that is off benchmark in many areas." Now the analysts are weighing in with their assessments of the printer and computer maker's future.

"We expect that Hurd will likely articulate his detailed plan for improving HP sometime over the next two months, and we do expect material workforce reductions--likely numbering 5 percent to 10 percent of the workforce, or 7,500 to 15,000 people," Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said in a report. He estimated that doing so could increase annual earnings by 20 cents to 40 cents per share.

Merrill Lynch analyst Steve Milunovich predicted job cuts would be announced by August; he projected an earnings boost of 21 cents to 42 cents per share for a hypothetical reduction of 5 percent to 10 percent of employees.

HP declined to comment Friday on possible layoff plans.

Massive job cuts have been more the rule than the exception in recent years at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company. HP laid off thousands of employees under the plan by previous CEO Carly Fiorina to merge with Compaq Computer in an attempt to compete better against top rivals IBM and Dell.

Competitors have taken a similar approach. IBM announced a cut of 10,000 to 13,000 employees in its services division, and Sun Microsystems has laid off thousands in recent years.

HP is in the middle of more job cuts in divisions for imaging and printing, servers and storage, and services. Not all cuts have been in the form of pink slips, though: 1,900 employees took advantage of a voluntary severance plan in the imaging and printing division.

In the last quarter, which ended April 30, HP took a charge of $71 million for the imaging and printing cuts. It also took a $74 million charge for cuts in services and $24 million for cuts in the servers and storage group.

In the current quarter, HP is budgeting $100 million for job cuts that already were planned.