Hewlett-Packard to cut 30,000 jobs: sources

Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest personal computer and printer manufacturer, is looking at slashing about 30,000 jobs from its payroll, sources familiar with the plan said, the New York Times reported. That’s about 10 percent of Hewlett-Packard’s workforce of 324,000.

HP wants to reduce costs so it can increase spending on product development and sales, according to the sources inside the company who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on its behalf, the New York Times reported. The exact number of employees who’ll lose their jobs has not been finalized, the sources said.

HP’s new chief executive Meg Whitman “is trying to build a new company,” one senior executive said, according to the New York Times. “You can count this as a part of that.”

According to Bloomberg News:

The company’s PC sales are dropping as consumers favor tablets, such as Apple Inc.’s iPad, and it has been slow to adapt to the shift toward cloud computing, away from the IT services Hewlett-Packard provides.

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Shedding 18,000 jobs could result in savings of about $1.2 billion and add 50 cents to annual per-share earnings, Brian Marshall, an analyst at ISI Group, wrote in a research note earlier this month, according to Bloomberg News.

The job cuts will occur in nearly all parts and all regions of the global company, the New York Times reported. It is possible that Hewlett-Packard will offer early retirement packages to several thousand employees, the sources said, according to Bloomberg News.

A few areas that may escape the layoffs, according to the New York Times: Hewlett-Packard’s business in China and the company’s research and development activities.

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