HP Job Cuts 2012: Hewlett-Packard Increases Layoff Target to 29,000

Hardware and software giant Hewlett-Packard has announced that it plans to cut about 2,000 more employees than previously revealed.

In a regulatory filing earlier today, the struggling technology behemoth announced it will cut 29,000 jobs by October 2014, up from the 27,000 cuts it announced in May. HP didn’t explain why it raised the number.

The firings, which are expected to eliminate an amount equal to somewhere in the vicinity of 10 to 15 percent of the company’s overall workforce, are CEO Meg Whitman’s latest effort to turn the company around.

“We are working to improve our execution and financial performance and to align our cost structure with our revenue and margin profile,” HP stated.

“These efforts are designed to enable us to invest in our business to respond to industry shifts and capitalize on emerging opportunities in areas like cloud computing, security, and information management,” it added.

HP said an unspecified portion of the 29,000 people impacted by the restructuring will exit as part of a voluntary early retirement program for U.S. employees.

The company added that many of the cuts will take place in the ailing enterprise services group, which manages data centers and provides information-technology consulting.

As a result of the job cuts, HP says it expects to create annual savings of $3.7 billion. That’s up from the May estimate of $3.5 billion.

HP will likely have cut 11,500 jobs by end of fiscal 2012, the company has said.

In related news, shares of the Palo Alto, California company rose 30 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $17.59 in morning trading.

Fox Business notes that figure is close to HP’s eight-year low of $16.77, hit August 30. Last month, Hewlett-Packard posted the largest loss in its 73-year history.