IBM shares declined 8.6% this year. Now, the company cuts off 10,000 jobs in Europe. It is estimated that the wide-ranging losses will affect about 20% of staff in the region. The decision to lay off will mostly affect the U.K. and Germany and the company also planned to cut off jobs in Poland, Slovakia, Italy, and Belgium.
UK and Germany first
IBM has plans to spin off the business and focus on its new hybrid-cloud computing and artificial intelligence unit. The company aims to complete the carve-out as a tax-free spinoff to IBM shareholders by the end of 2021. The reshaping move started with the new CEO. IBM Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna, who replaced Ginni Rometty in April earlier this year cut thousands of jobs.
An IBM spokeswoman said in an emailed statement,
“Our staffing decisions are made to provide the best support to our customers in adopting an open hybrid cloud platform and AI capabilities. We also continue to make significant investments in training and skills development for IBMers to best meet the needs of our customers.
“They’re taking structural actions to simplify and streamline our business. They expect the fourth-quarter charge to our operating results of about $2.3 billion,” said IBM Chief Financial Officer James Kavanaugh during the company’s third-quarter earnings call in October.