HP NZ braces for job cuts
A global layoff of 27,000 staff will hit all parts of the multinational's business.
HP's New Zealand operation is bracing for job cuts.
"We do expect the workforce reduction to impact just about every business and region," spokeswoman Stephanie Aye told NBR ONLINE.
The multinational IT company is looking to cut 27,000 jobs, or around 8% of its workforce, to save up to $US3.5 billion a year.
The cuts come after a 31% profit drop to $US1.6 billion and 3% dip in revenue to $US30.7 billion - HP's third straight quarter of decline.
Meg Whitman, who became HP CEO in September, announced the restructure in an inhouse video to staff.
Ms Whitman said money saved would be reinvested in growth areas such as big data and cloud computing.
Margins have been shrinking in its PC and printer divisions, which are set to be merged (before Ms Whitman took the reins, the company had publicly vacillated over whether to spin off its PC business).
In September, HP axed plans to build a $60 million dollar data centre South Auckland. The move came soon after the company missed out on a place on a panel to supply the government with infrastructure-as-a service computing (spots were won by local companies Datacom and Revera).
In March, HP New Zealand reported an annual los of $27 million for its year to October 2011. Revenue fell 10% to $736 million.
Ms Aye refused to say how many were employed by the local operation.
"HP’s restructuring is painful but necessary in order to restore market and customer confidence after two years of turmoil," Ovum principal analyst John Madden said.
"We’ve been down this road before, of course, and the market remains skeptical about how these operational changes will enable HP’s stability, especially for its enterprise business. What’s somewhat encouraging is HP’s indication that most restructuring savings will be directed toward R&D – a part of HP’s legacy and history which the company has sorely undervalued in the past few years, but which will be a critical component of HP’s recovery in new product and service development."
NBR staff
Fri, 25 May 2012
Fri, 25 May 2012
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HP NZ braces for job cuts
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