On Wednesday, PC maker Hewlett-Packard announced it was cutting 27,000 jobs in a maneuver that was highly expected. HP hopes the cuts will help slim down the company and lower costs. The layoffs total 8% of the entire HP workforce and the company expects it will save between $3 billion and $3.5 billion before the start of 2015. The largest part of that savings will be used to reinvest in research and development.
CEO Meg Whiteman said the cuts were hard since they involve people losing jobs, but she said they were needed to improve the company execution and fund the company’s long term health.
HP said the latest cuts would help substantially to improve customer service and efficiency over many years. The company is planning to revamp its PC that has slumped recently and its printing businesses. HP will also invest in its cloud-based services geared to corporate clients.
One time charges were included in the results and without those charges, the PC maker said it earned just over 98 cents a share. Analysts had predicted the company would earn 91 cents a share.
Sales for PCs dropped by 1% and overall sales slumped 3% to just under $30.7 billion. That figure was about $700,000 higher than analysts’ estimates.
