IBM cuts 3900 jobs blaming its exit from Russia and rising inflation
The tech bloodbath continues with another well-known firm slashing its workforce as tens of thousands of workers across the sector are impacted.
Tech company IBM is slashing 3900 jobs – about 1.5 per cent of its global workforce – following in the footsteps of long list of other companies that have fired thousands of staff in recent months.
The cuts will cost the company around $US300 million.
It came as IBM’s report for the fourth quarter revealed its cash flow was at $US9.3 billion – below its target of $US10 billion, with CEO Arvind Krishna blaming factors such as exiting Russia, wage inflation and a strong dollar for the drop.
Yet, quarterly revenue sat at $US16.7 billion, which was up 6 per cent, leaving many surprised at the cuts.
However, IBM chief financial officer James Kavanaugh told Reuters that the company was still “committed to hiring for client-facing research and development”.
IBM’s cuts add to the pile up of staff that have been let go in recent times.
Last week, Google’s parent company Alphabet become the latest US tech giant to enact large-scale restructuring, announcing that 12,000 jobs would be cut globally.
Laid-off workers were reportedly informed by email, though in some cases, they only knew they had been fired once they arrived at work, where their access badges were denied.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the cuts were to correct recent “dramatic growth”.
Amazon was set to of lay off more than 18,000 of its workers, representing about 6 per cent of the retailer’s overall corporate workforce of 300,000 people.
Microsoft also announced it would lay off 10,000 employees in the coming months as the economic downturn continues to punish US tech giants.
US software company Salesforce also planned to cut 10 per cent of staff, or more than 7000 employees, citing a challenging macro environment.
Even major bank Goldman Sachs was set to sack 3200 staff in the coming weeks in one of its biggest round of job cuts in its more than 150-year history.
Meanwhile, US bank Silvergate was forced to lay off hundreds of staff and sell off assets after it saw $US8 billion ($A11.6 billion) worth of cryptocurrency withdrawn by customers.
According to tech site Layoffs.fyi, nearly 194,000 industry employees have lost their jobs in the US since the beginning of 2022.
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