Hewlett-Packard Likely To Lay Off 25-30,000 Employees

The big announcement from Hewlett-Packard is not expected to come until tomorrow, but for the company's workers it is expected to be a bad one. Here is Market Watch with the details:

H-P will post fiscal second-quarter results following media reports that the company was going to eliminate 25,000 to 30,000 jobs, or up to 10% of its workforce. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company will present both its results and restructuring plan after the closing bell, the source told MarketWatch.

For the quarter, analysts expect H-P to post a profit of 91 cents a share, on revenue of $29.9 billion, according to a consensus survey by FactSet Research. For the year-earlier period, the company reported a profit of $1.24 a share, on revenue of $31.6 billion.

The company has struggled with stiffer competition and internal squabbles, which have taken a toll on its market value. The company’s stock slid by 25% since its last earnings report in late February, when it reported that profits had plunged by 44% and gave a disappointing forecast for the current period. See full story on H-P's last quarterly report.

Many analysts see layoffs at the tech giant as inevitable. “These are never fun but given where H-P is, these are necessarily to get the company back on track,” Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said.

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White affirmed this view, saying in a note, “Downsizing at H-P is clearly needed.”

The reported plan, he said, could “benefit H-P’s annual earnings per share by about 75 cents.” He also noted that H-P’s efficiency as measured by revenue per employee was at “the lowest level in a decade.”

Personally, I'd rather see the downsizing of asshole analysts like Shaw Wu and Brian White. After all, unlike those two useless paper pushing parasites, Hewlett--Packard employees actually make something for a living.

I would also note that H-P's CEO is still the hideous Meg Whitman, who thought nothing of blowing a cool $144 million or so of her own cash in her hilariously inept California Gubernatorial bid against Jerry Brown. If H-P needs to cut costs, maybe it should fire her fucking ass first.


Bonus: "It's so easy to hurt others when you can't feel pain"