The Hewlett-Packard Co., a leading maker of personal computers and printers, said yesterday that it would cut 6,000 jobs, or 6.5 percent of its work force, because of the global slowdown in consumer spending on technology products.
The company, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., also warned that its sales were running well below previous forecasts.
The job cuts are scheduled to take place in the company's fiscal fourth quarter, beginning Aug. 1. Affected employees in the company's 160 worldwide offices will begin finding out if they will be laid off during the first weeks of August, said Suzette Stephens, a company spokeswoman.
Earlier in the year, the company eliminated 3,000 positions in its management division and reduced its marketing staff by about 2 percent. As a result of the cutbacks, about 1,000 people left the company, while the others took different jobs within Hewlett-Packard, Stephens said.
Carleton S. "Carly" Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard's chairman and chief executive, said the company expected its revenue in the fiscal third quarter to decline by 14 percent to 16 percent from the comparable quarter in 2000.
In May, the company projected that its revenue would be equal to or 5 percent less than the previous quarter, when it took in $11.6 billion.
Hewlett-Packard reaffirmed that projection in June, when it announced new cost cuts.
The projected decline would bring Hewlett-Packard's revenue down to $9.9 billion to $10.1 billion in the latest quarter, compared with $11.8 billion in the fiscal third quarter of 2000.
Analysts had been projecting that the company would report revenue of about $11.1 billion and earnings of 19 cents a share.
Fiorina did not address the company's forecast for its third-quarter earnings.
Shares of Hewlett-Packard dropped on the disclosure of continued sales weakness, falling $1.68, or 6.5 percent, to close at $24 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Fiorina said in a conference call with industry analysts yesterday that she did not expect a recovery in 2001 and declined to say when she thought sales would rebound.
