The Massachusetts-headquartered storage giant said in a statement that it expects to complete its latest retrenchment exercise by year end, shedding its global work force from the current 23,400 to an estimated 21,000.
When contacted today, EMC director of Marketing Communications (Asia Pacific) Verdayne Nunis confirmed that the layoffs will affect employees in the region but said the extent of the casualties is still uncertain. "This is a global direction which will also affect EMC Asia Pacific and Japan. The reduction in the global headcount will be about 10 percent," Nunis told Singapore.CNET.com.
According to her, EMC has over 1,850 staff in Asia Pacific (including Japan). However, she was unable to provide figures on the layoffs in the region.
Announcing the global job cuts on Thursday, EMC president and CEO Joe Tucci said: "It is now clear that further weakening of the economy is causing major cutbacks in many of the industries served by EMC. The business world is simply covered in a blanket of hesitation.
"In response to this continuing economic deterioration, we are taking action to reduce our overall operating costs. EMC's cost reduction efforts will be sweeping in scope, encompassing our work force, real estate, certain inventories and other areas."
He added: "This (staff) reduction will be especially difficult, as the employees who will leave are highly-qualified, dedicated people."
This is not the first retrenchment at EMC. In May, the company laid off 1,100 workers worldwide as part of its plan to meet an earlier revenue growth target.
Revenue targets in doubt
Last November, EMC Asia Pacific managing director Steve Querner said he
expected Asia Pacific (excluding Korea and Japan) to generate revenues
of up to US$1.2 billion by the end of 2001. In May this year, the
company said it was on track to meet this target.
However, today the outlook is decidedly grimmer. Asked if the company was still on track to meet its revenue target, Nunis said: "Given the current economic situation, we cannot give any guidelines...the previous guidelines were made very early and (perhaps) we'll have a better idea when our third-quarter revenue is released next month." She did not disclose further details.
The Nasdaq-listed company generated US$2.02 billion in global revenues for the second quarter ended June 2001, down 6 percent from the same period last year. EMC posted net earnings of US$109 million in the second quarter compared with US$429 million in the year-ago period.
EMC shares edged up US$0.02 to US$12.62 on the Nasdaq Thursday.
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