FlashPaper Nov. 2001: HP announced more layoffs, and scrambled to keep its stock up

November 2001

HP announced more layoffs, and scrambled to keep its stock up

While the water was rising in the US e3000 market, HP’s other businesses were still fighting to stay in place. Hewlett-Packard’s stock price weathered the poor results reported by Compaq in the month of October, but the company’s stock was still fighting to stay at the $18 a share price as we sent this issue to press. On November 1 the company announced another round of layoffs, following a reduction of 6,000 jobs that was completed by the end of October. HP’s year-end results are expected to be reported in the week of November 12, but in the meantime the company is working to appear as efficient as possible in the face of a stalled worldwide IT marketplace. While the HP e3000 division took some reductions as a result of the last round of layoffs — division storage marketing manager Justin Jones was among those who didn’t survive — the division is not expected to see any more layoffs in this latest round, according to sources within the division. The latest cuts are taking place only in the US. It could be worse; Compaq announced it will be laying off 8,500 employees, job eliminations that are not part of the expected 15,000 layoffs HP has predicted will be part of the merger.