HP

Hewlett-Packard plans to cut 9,000 jobs

Hewlett-Packard said Tuesday it would cut about 9,000 jobs and take $1 billion in charges over several years as it creates fully automated commercial data centers.

The company said it would invest $1 billion in its enterprise services unit over a multiyear period. The company said the job cuts are the result of productivity gains and automation. Hewlett said it would replace about 6,000 of the jobs to expand its global sales and delivery staff.

Hewlett, whose fiscal year ends in October, said it would record about half of the $1 billion charge in the third quarter and the rest by the end of fiscal 2013.

Once it is completed, Hewlett said, the changes would result in savings of $500 million to $700 million a year.

Hewlett said the commercial data centers will help its corporate clients run their businesses faster and more efficiently.

Hewlett, the world’s biggest maker of PCs and printers and the top technology company by revenue, has been working to expand its business in other areas as PC profit margins shrink. The company bought Electronic Data Systems, a rival of I.B.M., in 2008. And it is pushing into the mobile market with its acquisition of the struggling smart phone maker Palm, announced in April.

(Published by The New York Times – June 1, 2010)