HP has reopened layoffs at big technology companies. The American manufacturer has communicated an adjustment plan that contemplates the departure of between 4,000 and 6,000 employees, around 10% of the total, in parallel with the introduction of new initiatives linked to artificial intelligence (AI). The firm had a workforce of 58,000 workers.
In the corresponding financial report, which was released on Tuesday night at the close of the stock market in the United States, HP indicated that it expects to achieve savings of up to $1 billion in fiscal year 2028, with restructuring costs of $650 million (250 million in the current fiscal year).
Investors have already reacted pessimistically. HP shares fell about 5% in the pre-opening of Wall Street and, since the beginning of the year, they have lost more than 25% of their value. HP currently capitalizes just under $23 billion.
In the fourth quarter, ended at the end of October, revenue rose 4.2% to $14.64 billion, slightly above forecasts, with a net profit of $795 million. For the year as a whole, revenues stood at 55,300 million, 3% more in reported terms, with a free cash flow generation of 2,931 million, 26% less. For fiscal year 2026, HP expects to generate free cash flow of between $2.8 billion and $3 billion, including additional costs derived from current US trade regulations and approved measures.
“We continue to implement our strategy for the future of work. We are accelerating innovation with AI-based devices that leverage these technologies in the edge and they create better joint experiences throughout our portfolio,” said Spanish Enrique Lores, president and CEO of HP, in the conference with analysts that followed the presentation of the accounts.
In turn, CFO Karen Parkhill stated that the company continues to invest in driving its internal transformation “We see a great opportunity to integrate AI into almost everything we do, in order to improve productivity, accelerate innovation and optimize the customer experience. As Enrique mentioned, we have already made excellent progress in identifying key areas that are expected to generate approximately $1 billion in gross run rate savings by the end of our fiscal year 2028,” highlighted the manager, who added that, during the last fiscal year, HP returned 1.9 billion to its shareholders between dividends and share buybacks.
In any case, HP has joined other large American technology companies that have announced layoffs in recent weeks. , at the end of October, announced a global adjustment that will affect 14,000 workers on its corporate staff this year. In fact, within this restructuring, Amazon proposed an ERE in Spain for 1,200 employees in its offices in Madrid and Barcelona.
In turn, Meta confirmed at the end of October the departure of nearly 600 employees from its AI division, with the aim of reducing structures and operating with greater agility. Facebook’s parent company announced the cuts in a memo from its AI director, Alexandr Wang, who joined Meta last June following Mark Zuckerberg’s company’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI. Employees in Meta’s AI infrastructure units, Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit, and other product-related positions would be affected. Wang’s arrival would have also meant .
Likewise, Apple has eliminated dozens of positions in its sales area in an attempt to streamline the way it offers products to companies, schools and governments, a rare move for the iPhone maker, according to Bloomberg. The cuts have extended to the entire sales organization, especially affecting some teams, although the company did not confirm the number of those affected.
Affected positions have included account managers serving large companies, schools and government agencies, as well as staff who operated Apple’s information centers for institutional meetings and product demonstrations for major clients.
In addition, among other companies, Rivian is going to reduce 600 employees, around 4% of its workforce; Applied Materials contemplates a 4% cut in its workforce, about 1,400 jobs; Google has cut 100 positions in its IT division. cloud; Just Eat has cut 450 jobs; xAI, the start-up of AI driven by Elon Musk, has laid off a third of its data team employees; Oracle has reduced several hundred positions in different centers in the US; while Salesforce cut 262 jobs in its headquarters, due to the implementation of AI in areas such as customer service.
