

HP to lay off 27,000 employees by end of 2014 - rangibaby
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/05/2012523222757499449.html

======
ekanes
Bad: We're sorry, but we have to let XX,XXX of you go. Here's your severance
packages, etc etc.

Really Really Bad: We're sorry, but _some_ of you will be let go, _sometime_
in the next years. Try not to think about it. Ok let's be productive out there
people!

------
sparknlaunch12
> _"Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest personal computer maker, has said it
> will layoff roughly 27,000 employees or about eight per cent of its
> workforce.... generate annual savings of $3bn to $3.5bn by the end of
> 2014."_

This feels inevitable for HP. After various takeovers and the economic climate
(in particular on their PC division) it seems an easy decision. Most of the
redundancies will be made up of early retirement, but always seems like a loss
of talent. There must be some veterans there with 40/50 years in the business.

~~~
loudmax
And it makes it much harder for HP to attract or hold on to top talent. The
perception that it's a sinking ship is self-reenforcing.

WebOS seemed to get a lot of positive reviews. Maybe there's a place left for
it, but it seems unlikely at this point.

~~~
debacle
webOS is a good OS, but HP has abandoned it.

------
mathieuh
> We are setting HP on a path to extend our global leadership and deliver the
> greatest value to customers and shareholders," CEO Meg Whitman said.

Yeah, who needs workers who toiled over the company, screw them. Yippee for
capitalism.

~~~
protomyth
At this point, I think calling this sort of thing "marketism" is more
appropriate. This "do anything for the share price" mentality really isn't
capitalism, it's slavery to the stock markets. These people are thinking of
the next quarter, but should be thinking about the next decade.

I cannot help but think the stock market is destroying these companies before
their time. I really don't see a way for HP to recover at this point. They may
have all the pieces, but the outside pressure is just unbelievable.

~~~
edwinnathaniel
This is exactly why I feel happy to see how Zuck executed FB IPO. They got
money in the bank for a long time, Zuck probably still have the biggest
shares/voting right, Wall Street got punked before they can toy Zuck around
and spit him for fun.

------
csears
I visited HP's Houston campus a couple years back. The non-sales folks all
seemed rather down and weary. There was a complete lack of energy in the
offices then. I can only imagine the mood now.

------
Maven911
And as always this bad news for the tech labor market makes wall street happy
as its stock is up quite a bit in after hours trading

------
rsanchez1
HP will be a sell for a while. If they're already setting themselves up for
negligible or negative growth through 2014, it won't make much sense to buy
HP, either in stock or in their products.

