Amid the wave of layoffs in the IT sector, another tech giant has announced plans to cut jobs. The International Business Machines (IBM) has said it would cut about 3,900 jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported. In an official statement, IBM said that the layoffs are related to the spinoff of its Kyndryl business and a part of AI unit Watson Health.
The current layoffs would amount to a 1.4 per cent reduction from its headcount of 2,80,000, according to IBM’s latest annual report. The information technology company posted flat sales in the fourth quarter, WSJ reported. Chief Financial Officer James Kavanaugh told Bloomberg that IBM still expects to hire in the "higher growth areas".
Technology companies at large have been affected by a slowdown in spending as concerns about the economy and a potential recession linger, which has resulted in a wave of recent layoffs. IBM layoffs come close on the heels of Microsoft's and Google's plans to cut jobs. Last week, Microsoft announced big job cuts, affecting over 10,000 people as CEO Satya Nadella hinted that tech companies could face a challenging two years ahead.
Google, too, announced cutting about 12,000 jobs recently, which CEO Sundar Pichai referred to as the “largest round of layoffs in the tech giant's history”. On Monday, he added that senior executives will face pay cuts this year as part of cost-cuttting measures.
