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HP, Philips plan to cut about 2,000 jobs each
The world's largest personal computer maker Hewlett-Packard (HP) and maker of consumer electronics, medical equipment, and lighting systems Philips Electronics stepped up their cost-cutting drive and said more jobs would go as part of a drastic overhaul of their businesses.
The world's largest personal computer maker Hewlett-Packard (HP) and maker of consumer electronics, medical equipment, and lighting systems Philips Electronics stepped up their cost-cutting drive and said more jobs would go as part of a drastic overhaul of their businesses.
HP plans to cut 2,000 more jobs, expanding total job cuts to nearly 29,000 in its latest reorganisation efforts, it said in a document. In May, HP said it would cut 27,000 jobs, around 8% of its global workforce over two years.
The cuts are part of an effort by chairman and chief executive Meg Whitman, who took the reins at HP a year ago, to turn around the giant hurt by a shift away from traditional PCs.
Whitman said in August said the workforce reduction was proceeding faster than expected, with 4,000 departures in the first three months and the number expected to hit 11,500 by the end of October.
HP said the move was part of "a multi-year productivity initiative designed to simplify business processes, advance innovation and deliver better results for customers, employees and shareholders."
Ahead of an investor event in London, Philips chief executive Frans van Houten said another 2,200 jobs would be cut, but he wouldn't say how many would be from the Netherlands, which holds election on Wednesday. Philips announced the first round of 4,500 job cuts in October.
An analyst who asked not to be named said he understood Philips had around 70 different IT platforms and Van Houten wanted to cut that to six.
Philips has said it wants to reinvest some of the savings into innovation, research and sales as it aims to get new products into local markets faster.
Houten raised the Dutch company's cost-cutting target to €1.1 billion ($1.41 billion) from €800 million by removing duplication and reducing complexity in areas such as IT.
With inputs from AFP & Reuters
