IBM Confirms Plans To Cut 15,000 Employees

IBM

The total layoff figures, which IBM never announced publicly, appeared in a Tuesday filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. Employees losing their jobs were notified in several batches during the second quarter, which ended June 30.

IBM reported cutting 14,213 jobs, the majority of which fell on its Global Services unit, with some workers also laid off in its servers and software businesses. A further batch of layoffs dismissed 1,400 workers from the company's Microelectronics division, which manufactures semiconductors.

"The work force reductions are intended to drive productivity and efficiency throughout the company," said IBM spokeswoman Carol Makovich.

IBM blamed the cuts on "the recent decline in corporate spending on technology services."

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

By Sept. 30, when most of the laid-off workers are expected to have departed, IBM's work force will have been cut from 320,000 to around 305,000, Makovich said.

But the Armonk, N.Y.-based hardware and services vendor is also expected to undergo a surge in employees, as it adds some 30,000 members of the consulting arm of accountancy PricewaterhouseCooopers. IBM expects to complete the deal by the end of September, Makovich said.

Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.