Well Cap, IBM has a new CEO, and to go along with it, another slug of layoffs - a 'taste of 1993' all over again, when LVG came in... As for the stock, hard to see it go much below 70 unless we continue to meltdown below the 9/11 lows... In fact, my mom, who bought IBM at 40 5/8, (split adjusted 10) in 1993 and did a LOT of smiling before she sold in the late 1990's, called me two days ago saying 'she has that feeling again' in regard to another buy <ggg>. I told her I'll watch it carefully for her, and to hold off for now...
Best regards,
John
IBM Is Expected to Lay Off
U.S. Workers This Month
By DONNA FUSCALDO
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
International Business Machines Corp. is preparing a round of layoffs in its U.S. operations later this month, a person familiar with the situation said Thursday.
While the exact number of jobs being eliminated isn't clear, this person said it's less than 10% of its roughly 160,000 U.S. work force. A spokeswoman at the Armonk, N.Y., computer company declined to comment.
Online gossip Web site F---edcompany.com reported Thursday that the cuts could occur May 23, and involve two months' severance pay. The Web site pegged the layoffs at 10% and said that, although the work force reductions will be across the board, many will come from its Global Services Unit.
Gary Helmig, an analyst at SoundView Technology Group, said the number of workers expected to be let go likely will be in the range of several thousand, but not as much as 10%.
The analyst said that IBM's layoffs are consistent with what the company has done in the past and likely will affect its consulting and systems integration unit, where business has slowed.
Employee cuts were widely expected after Big Blue's chief executive, Samuel Palmisano, warned employees in late April that the company might have to engage in cost-cutting to weather the sluggish economy.
Until now, IBM has generally managed to avoid the large staff reductions taken by most of its competitors Total employment at IBM increased last year by about 2,000 workers despite large layoffs at its troubled semiconductor unit. |
