HP to Layoff 27,000; Largest Layoffs in Company History

From DailyTech: Soon, approximately 27,000 workers at Hewlett-Packard Comp. (HPQ) will be out of the job -- almost 8 percent of the company's total staff of 324,000.

HP surprised with better than expected earnings for fiscal Q2 2012, announcing revenue of $30.7B USD, more than the analyst consensus of $29.9B USD. Profit checked in at $2.3B USD ($1.05 USD/share), more than the $1.02 USD/share analysts predicted. Optimism in the stronger-than-expected performance was tempered by estimates for the next quarter, which were lower than analysts expected, amid a slump on sales of printers, data-center equipment, and services.

The HP layoff program will be gradually implemented as part of a restructuring that wraps up by October 2014. The layoffs will be the largest in the company's 73-year history. News of the painful layoffs leaked last week.

HP has not revealed a precise timeline for when the job cuts will occur, within the 2012-2014 restructuring windows. However, sources indicate that most of the cuts will likely come in the U.S. and Europe, while the company's Chinese unit -- a major growth target -- will largely be spared.

Remaining employees will have to pick up the slack for their departed co-workers under former eBay, Inc. (EBAY) CEO and new HP CEO Meg Whitman's vision for the company. Still a bit of a silver-lining to this cloudy news is that Ms. Whitman did indicate that some of the $3.5B USD saved would be reinvested in working towards restoring HP Labs to its former glory.

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