NEW YORK • Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is planning to cut about 10 per cent of its staff, or at least 5,000 workers, according to people familiar with the matter, part of a broader effort to pare expenses as competition mounts.
The reductions are expected to start before the end of the year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.
The cuts at the company, which has about 50,000 workers, are likely to affect workers in the United States and abroad, including managers, the people said.
A HPE representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Chief executive Meg Whitman has been jettisoning divisions since 2015, including personal computers, printers, business services and key software units. The moves are all part of an effort to make HPE more responsive to a changing industry that is under pressure from cloud providers such as Amazon.com and Alphabet's Google.
On a call with analysts earlier this month, Ms Whitman said the company is benefiting from growing demand across key areas of the business. At the same time, she said she is pushing to cut "layers" in the organisation and become more efficient.
"With fewer lines of business and clear strategic priorities, we have the opportunity to create an internal structure and operating model that is simpler, nimbler and faster," she said.
On the same call, chief financial officer Tim Stonesifer said the company is targeting US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion) in savings over a three-year period.
In Singapore, HPE has about 1,600 employees, according to figures given by Ms Whitman in May last year on the opening of the company's new Asia-Pacific and Japan headquarters building in the city-state.
The new regional headquarters brought together all of the company's various facilities in Singapore - including research and development, supply chain and logistics, marketing and sales offices, an Innovation Centre and a 10,677 sq ft Customer Experience Centre.
The company also said then that its new HQ would invest some US$140 million over the next five years, including US$16 million to nurture promising local start-ups in collaboration with the Singapore Economic Development Board.
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