Infotech Lead Asia: IBM may cut 8,000 jobs globally.
The company is probably cutting 6,000 to 8,000 jobs globally, based on the $1 billion cost figure, said Laurence Balter, an analyst at Oracle Investment Research in Fox Island, Washington.
That would represent less than 2 percent of IBM’s workforce of 434,246 as of December 31. 2012.
IBM during the quarterly result said that the job cut would be concentrated overseas and mostly complete by the end of June. Interestingly, IBM India has a significant employee base in the country. The company does not share India specific details.
Bloomberg reported that IBM began cutting US jobs on Thursday as part of a global restructuring plan announced in April.
The reduction targets employees with a range of seniority, from rank-and-file staff to executives.
Some US workers received notifications of the cuts last night, according to Lee Conrad, a coordinator for Alliance@IBM, an employee group. The restructuring will cost $1 billion worldwide, including severance expenses.
IBM announced the job cutting effort after releasing disappointing first-quarter results in April. IBM’s revenues for the first quarter of 2013 decreased 5 percent to $23.4 billion from the first quarter of 2012.
IBM’s first-quarter net income declined 1 percent to $3 billion. The technology giant admitted that it could not close a number of software and mainframe transactions. IBM posted decline in revenues in all its main geographies including America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Alliance@IBM said on its website that 121 employees were cut from a unit within IBM’s Systems and Technology group, the hardware division that saw revenue drop 17 percent last quarter.
IBM also has been cutting hours of its contract employees. CDI Corp, a Philadelphia-based provider of staffing and outsourcing services, told its staff working for IBM to limit their hours in May.
