Despite meeting Wall Street's earnings expectations on a slight uptick in revenue, Xerox on Thursday said it plans to cut 3,000 jobs.
“We expect a reduction of about 3,000 employees over the next six months on a worldwide basis,” Xerox representative Carl Langsenkamp said in an email.
The cuts at the maker of printers and copiers represent nearly 5 percent of the company’s global work force, which counts over 57,000 employees.
U.S. Xerox workers--unlike their less lucky counterparts in other countries--will be offered voluntary leave packages, such as 1.5 weeks of pay for every year of service.
Unlike Yahoo, who on Tuesday announced it would get rid of 10 percent of its staff after it missed third-quarter earnings expectations, Xerox’s third-quarter numbers gave no indication of a need for layoffs.
The Norwalk, Connecticut, company, reported third-quarter revenue that rose 2 percent to $4.4 billion that met analysts’ estimates.
Net income came in at $258 million, or $0.29 per share, matching analyst expectations, up from $254 million, or $0.27 per share from the same period last year.
Like eBay, Texas Instruments, Yahoo, Comcast, and Hewlett-Packard--who in October alone jointly cut over 28,000 jobs--Xerox blamed the down economy for the layoffs.
“We’re accelerating actions to reduce our cost base and drive operational improvements across the board, giving us more flexibility in our business and in this unpredictable economy,” Xerox Chief Executive Officer Anne Mulcahy said in a statement.
Mrs. Mulcahy blamed the global economic slowdown for weighing on the company’s gross profit margin, which dipped to 39.2 percent from 40.1 percent last year.
Xerox shares slid $0.44, or 5.5 percent, to $7.54 in late-morning trading. The stock has plunged 52 percent so far this year.
This is not the first wave of layoffs this year for the copier giant, which earlier in 2008 got rid of 1,500 employees to face the then burgeoning economic recession.
Xerox Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Zimmerman said during a conference call on Thursday that he expected the cost-cutting efforts to save Xerox $200 million next year.