Posted on Tuesday, September 16 2008 @ 2:46 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
HP announced it will cut 24,600 jobs, or 7.5 percent of its work force, to realize savings from its recent acquisition of EDS. The company will also take a charge of $1.7 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter, there will be a $1.4 billion goodwill write off and another $300 million will go to restructuring costs.
HP said it would carry out the cutbacks over the next three years, while replacing about half the jobs in new areas of its services business. It announced the plan ahead of a meeting with Wall Street analysts to detail the merger plans.
Nearly half of the job reductions will take place in the United States, the Palo Alto, California-based company said.
EDS was headquartered in Plano, Texas, near Dallas.
"We are good at integrating companies ... I believe we will do it well," HP Chairman and Chief Executive Mark Hurd told financial analysts at the company's headquarters.
The $13.2 billion acquisition of EDS, a deal announced in May and closed in August, made HP the world's second largest provider of technology services, up from No. 5 previously.
More info
at Reuters.
