HP Job cuts to affect over 24000

Hewlett Packard (HP) said it is planning to cut around 24,600 jobs over the next three years as it integrates enterprise technology firm Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS), which it acquired for US$13.9bn in August. Before the acquisition, HP had 178,000 employees and EDS 142,000, a total of 320,000, making this cut equal to 7.5% of the company's combined workforce. HP would take a one-time charge of about US$1.7bn in the fourth quarter, but says it will save US$1.8bn a year from the job cuts. HP said it plans to eventually add about half the positions back in new areas. About half the layoffs will be in the US, with more than half affecting EDS employees.