Hewlett-Packard is the latest company to announce mass layoffs. HP, which is headquartered in Palo Alto, said in a press release Tuesday that it plans to cut between 4,000 and 6,000 jobs. The computer maker disclosed the major job cuts in a statement accompanying its lackluster quarterly earnings report on Tuesday afternoon, where it also said sales dropped more than 11% compared to the same period last year.
“The company expects to reduce gross global headcount by approximately 4,000-6,000 employees,” HP said.
HP President and CEO Enrique Lores added in a statement that the company’s so-called “Future Ready strategy” will “enable us to better serve our customers and drive long-term value creation by reducing our costs and reinvesting in key growth initiatives to position our business for the future.”
The cuts are part of the company’s 2023 Future Ready Transformation plan. The goal of the plan is, “Driving significant structural cost savings through digital transformation, portfolio optimization and operational efficiency,” HP said. The plan is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
HP said its “Future Ready Transformation plan” should result in annualized gross run rate savings of $1.4 billion or more in the next three years, with around $1 billion in costs including restructuring. Of that $1 billion, $600 million will come in the fiscal 2023 fiscal year, which ends Oct. 31, 2023. The rest will be split evenly between the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, HP said.
The press release sent out by HP also included an update on the company’s finances. HP said revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended on Oct. 31, declined 0.8% year over year to $14.80 billion. Revenue in the Personal Systems segment, which includes PCs, fell 13% to $10.3 billion, as units dropped 21%. Consumer revenue in the segment slid 25%. Printing revenue, at $4.5 billion, was down 7%, as units fell 3%.
The news makes HP the latest in a growing list of once-high-flying tech companies that are now announcing significant job cuts. Facebook-parent Meta recently said it was cutting 11,000 jobs across the company, and Amazon confirmed last week that wide-ranging layoffs had begun at the e-commerce giant that would continue into next year.
“We had a solid end to our fiscal year despite navigating a volatile macro-environment and softening demand in the second half,” said HP’s president and CEO.
