IBM to lay off 110,000 employees by end of February (1/4 of its work force)

[ahhming]

IBM will lay off 111,800 people next  month, about 26% of its work force of 430,000 .
IBM is set to launch a transformation project – code named “Project Chrome” – to reorganize the company,
 

If that figure holds true, that would make it far and away the largest corporate layoff event in history, breaking the record previously held by IBM, when it cut 60,000 in 1993.

 

The problem is a complex mess of bad management – like laying off important people in the middle of a project – to getting sidetracked with pie-in-the-sky ideas like commercializing Watson and failing to adjust to the new era. The "M" in IBM may mean machines, but hardware is less than 10% of its business. Two-thirds is in services, and the services pipeline has dried up.

 
 The layoffs will begin next week and by the end of February, all of the employees will be gone.
This is bad news for those who are affected
 
Source:
http://www.itworld.com/article/2875112/ibm-is-about-to-get-hit-with-a-massive-reorg-and-layoffs.html

 

http://www.bidnessetc.com/33231-international-business-machines-corp-ibm-to-layoff-over-100000-employees/

[Albatross]

Ah, those poor people.

[A.D.A.M]

Wow, that is a lot of people...

[Nic]

tis a sad day

[mr moose]

So is this official from IBM or just a prediction from a silicon valley journalist?

 

I really hope for the employees sake this isn't going to happen.

[Sharif]

This reminds me of Barnacles....(forgot sp)  

[awesomes8wc3]

We all knew this was going to happen eventually.

 

Sucks though, hopefully it wouldn't be too hard to get a new job...after all you did work at the IBM.

[A.D.A.M]

This reminds me of Barnacles....(forgot sp)  

Barnacules. Barnacles would be the greek version

[Glenwing]

[PortentousLad]

Bad management?... How about letting some bad managers go then?

Seriously I hope they fire some of the big hats as well.

[Unhelpful]

So... With IBM having one of the worlds largest patent folders.... What the hell would happen if they sunk?

[lak]

And people were saying the recent MS layoffs were bad!

Tough times ahead. Hearing this kind of news is never a good thing, especially of this magnitude.

[Guest]

Looking forward to seeing what those 11,000 startups will try to crowdfund.

[qwertywarrior]

wow ....

 

110,000 people layed off in the same time

could this actually cause an effect ?

[Faceman]

Wow. Having had a close relative go through a layoff at a tech company, it is rough. Wow. Such a huge number of people too. That's mind numbing.

[SirPaul]

Hehe, I just signed my leaving papers from IBM.

What a luck

[patrickjp93]

So... With IBM having one of the worlds largest patent folders.... What the hell would happen if they sunk?

I suspect they'd sell bits and pieces to Samsung, AMD, Nvidia, VIA, Qualcomm, and Samsung to keep competition alive.

[KeltonDSMer]

Yikes, IBM is my hometown area's largest employer...they have a 300,000+ square foot complex just outside of Boulder I used to drive by everyday on my commute

[Homicidium]

Wow, that's a lot.

[Briggsy]

2015 is going to be a rough year for a lot of folks in various industries. My heart goes out to the employees and their families at IBM that get effected. Those getting laid off will probably be the ones who most needed their job.

[Homicidium]

Those getting laid off will probably be the ones who most needed their job.

 

That's always the case, unfortunately.

[Trik'Stari]

@Barnacules needs to grab these people and start his own tech company, with blackjack and hookers.

 

Maybe some 3d printing stuff? Maybe a giant deathray that only harms asshat executives that lay off tens/hundreds of thousands of people at a time like it's just something to do?

 

I love it when companies say "we have some problems with bad management, so we fired a bunch of people who aren't in management"

[J_DeMan]

Essentially what IBM is doing to their employes.

[StingBull]

I didn't know you could fire that many people at the same time. Wouldn't that drop the value of their shares?

[mr moose]

I didn't know you could fire that many people at the same time. Wouldn't that drop the value of their shares?

 

Well, they apparently cut 50,000 jobs in India last year and hardly anyone knew about it.  This still reads like a rumour generated by a jaded ex-employee, esp. considering there has been no other source and IBM have said nothing about it.  However It's not beyond possibility that it will happen.