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Springtime Job Slash
By Ericka Chickowski on 2009-05-22


The economic slump continues, bringing with it a rash of technology-industry layoffs that IT workers may feel in their own jobs. The following are eight of the highest-impact layoffs announced by U.S.-based companies this spring.

By Ericka Chickowski
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Hewlett-PackardWho: 6,400 HP employees across the board, plus 24,600 additional employees related to HP’s acquisition of Electronic Data SystemsWhen: Over the next 12 monthsWhere: Palo AltoWhy: A drop in quarterly profit of 17 % forced this round of belt-tightening.

MicrosoftWho: 4,400 employees across numerous departmentsWhen: Two rounds, one in January 2009 and one in May 2009Where: Redmond and worldwideWhy: To position the company for greater efficiency and to deal with the company’s first ever quarterly loss.

SeagateWho: 1,900 employees, or approximately 2.5 % of the company’s workforceWhen: Two rounds, one in January and one in July 2009Where: WorldwideWhy: Layoffs are part of a company restructuring that is expected to save $125 million annually.

YahooWho: 700 employees across numerous divisions, including FlickrWhen: April 2009Where: Sunnyvale, CAWhy: A dismal advertising market dented Yahoo’s earnings—first quarter 2009 saw a dip of 16 % in revenue, down to $1.53 billion.

National SemiconductorWho: 1,725 employees, the bulk from a shutdown of two chip manufacturing plantsWhen: Half in March, half by the end of 2009Where: Santa Clara, Calif., Suzhou, China, and Arlington, TexasWhy: Semiconductor sales are in the dumps. Gartner projects the biggest drop in sales this year since it started tracking the chip market in 1980.

IBMWho: 5,000 employees in services units, including 600 Global Business Services IT specialistsWhen: March 2009Where: Across the U.S.Why: IBM aims to “rebalance skills, eliminate redundancies, and deliver greater economic efficiencies;” some former workers say IBM is positioning to offshore more work.

Tyco ElectronicsWho: 20,000 employees, some 20 % of the company’s workforceWhen: By end of September 2009Where: North AmericaWhy: A steep drop in demand for electronics products hit this company hard.

Sun MicrosystemsWho: 1,500 workers “across all levels, including vice presidents and directors”When: March 2009, as a part of a larger workforce reduction plan announced in November 2008Where: WorldwideWhy: Sun started slashing workers in January after announcing a massive cut of 5,000-6,000 workers through 2009 that likely positioned it better for purchase by Oracle.

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