(Bloomberg) — IBM started notifying employees in its latest round of firings, according to Alliance@IBM, an organization that advocates for workers’ rights and benefits at the company.
The organization said it doesn’t know how many jobs are being cut. Employees are reporting reductions around the U.S. and in various business units, according to an e-mail from Alliance@IBM.
International Business Machines Corp. announced a $580 million charge for “workforce rebalancing” in the fourth quarter, and employees are now being notified. While it’s unclear how many positions are being eliminated, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimated that the cost would amount to about 8,000 job cuts. IBM had about 431,000 employees at the end of 2013, the last time it disclosed that information.
Earlier this week, IBM sought to debunk a report from Forbes that the tech giant was preparing to fire more than 100,000 workers. The company said in a statement at the time that it doesn’t comment on rumors, “even ridiculous or baseless ones.” It said the restructuring charge equated to “several thousand people — a mere fraction of what’s been reported.”
IBM said it hired 45,000 people last year and currently has about 15,000 job openings. The Armonk, New York-based company has been adjusting its workforce as it tries to shift to the era of cloud computing and build up data analytics and mobile services into business that will help return the company to growth.
“IBM is aggressively positioning itself for continued leadership in cloud, analytics, mobile, security, social and cognitive computing, and we are investing in and staffing these priority areas,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. “Transformation on this scale requires IBM to continually remix skills.”
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