To boost declining profits, HP to layoff 27,000 workers by 2014 end | WPN World People News

Tech giant Hewlett-Packard is set to cut 27,000 jobs by the end of 2014 as part of restructuring to boost declining profits and revenues.

The company said the layoff of about 8 per cent of its workforce would reduce costs by up to $3.5 billion (2.2 billion pounds) a year.

The Silicon Valley tech giant has been hit by declining profits and has been unable to compete with tech rivals with flashier hand-held devices.

The company, one of the world's largest computer makers with nearly 325,000 employees, said the layoffs and voluntary early retirement programmes would begin by the end of fiscal 2014.

It said in a statement that the money would be reinvested in the company, specifically to boost investment in cloud computing, data analytics and information technology security.

"Workforce reductions are never easy," Chief Executive Meg Whitman said in a call with analysts.

"They adversely affect people's lives, but in this case they're absolutely critical for the long-term health of the company," according to Los Angeles Times.

The move was widely expected, as HP has struggled for months to turn its business around.

HP has seen customer demand for its PCs plummet in favor of tablets and smartphones made by Apple and other competitors.

It didn't specify which business units or countries would be targeted.

It claimed that the redundancy was part of a "productivity initiative designed to simplify business processes" and was a required measure as rival products such as the iPad tablet computer interfered in HP's sales.

As part of the changes, Bill Veghte, HP's chief strategy officer, is replacing the head of HP's Autonomy division, Mike Lynch.

Source: Economics Industry News.Net