Hewlett-Packard to eliminate 30,000 or more jobs: report

Technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) under its new chief executive, Meg Whitman, plans to eliminate 30,000 or more jobs next week in order to cut costs and help the company cope with the receding demand for computers and services, The New York Times today reported, citing officials familiar with the plan.

The job cuts would amount to 10 per cent of its global workforce of 324,000. Executives who spoke to the paper on the condition of anonymity said HP will seek layoffs and voluntary retirements.

Around 10,000 to 15,000 of the job cuts would come from HP's enterprise services group, which sells a range of information-technology services but the plans are not final and may change, said the paper.

The final plan is expected to be made public on 23 May, when HP announces earnings for its second fiscal quarter, the newspaper said.

According to analysts, by reducing its workforce by 18,000, the Palo Alto, California-based company would save around $1.2 billion annually.

Whitman, hired by HP after the company's board fired its former CEO Leo Apotheker over his audacious plan for reorganising the business, had announced in March that the company plans to combine its once dominant imaging and printing division (IPG) into its personal-computer group (PSG).