IBM Fires 3,900 Employees Amid Tech Slowdown

New York: The International Business Machines (IBM) has said it will eliminate 3,900 employees, joining the tide of businesses that are executing layoffs, according to reports. The job layoffs would result from the healthcare divestiture and IBM’s spinoff of Kyndryl Holdings, its IT services division, which will cost the company around USD $300 million, an IBM spokesman said.

According to IBM’s most recent annual report, the layoffs would result in a 1.4% decrease in its 2,80,000 headcount. After experiencing a more than $1 billion hit from the strong US dollar in the fourth quarter, the information technology giant reported flat sales, according to WSJ.

For the fourth quarter that concluded on December 31, IBM reported a net income of USD 2.71 billion, or USD 2.96 per share, compared to USD 2.33 billion, or USD 2.57 per share, a year earlier. According to the WSJ report, adjusted earnings were USD 3.60 per share, somewhat higher than experts’ predictions of USD 3.59 per share. Revenue decreased slightly from USD 16.70 billion a year earlier to USD 16.69 billion. FactSet’s analysts surveyed predicted USD 16.15 billion.

Compared to the same period last year, revenue increased for a number of the company’s businesses at its Armonk, New York, headquarters. Software increased by 2.8% to reach USD 7.3 billion, consulting increased by 0.5% to reach USD 4.8 billion, and infrastructure increased by 1.6% to reach USD 4.5 billion, according to WSJ. A year ago, IBM’s financing business saw a 0.4% decline to USD 200 million. According to The Wall Street Journal, recent layoffs at technology companies have been caused by a halt in expenditure as worries about the economy and a future recession persist.