HP to lay off 27,000 employees as a part of $3 billion restructuring plan

Over the past few weeks the rumor mill suggested that HP was gearing up to lay off around 25,000 employees and now the company has confirmed it. HP has announced a “multi-year productivity initiative” that will see 27,000 employees leave the company, which amounts to about eight percent of its entire workforce numbered at around 3,49,600. The idea is to save up to $3 to $3.5 billion, which could be reinvested in the company to focus on the cloud, big data, and security.
The layoffs are expect to go on till the end of 2014 fiscal year and certain number of employees will be accepting early retirement plans. This news comes after HP has two consecutive quarters with decline earnings. HP has reported a decline of 31 percent in its earnings in Q2 and previously had reported a 38 percent decline of earnings in Q1.
In wake of this, HP has also said that it will phase out the HP Compaq branding sometime in 2013, and it will revive the Compaq branding exclusively for low-end PCs. Compaq was acquired by HP in 2002 and its intellectual property has been well etched into HP’s DNA.