It's been on the news all morning here that Hewlett Packard is going to layoff 1,100 workers out of a work force of 1,500. There's a news conference scheduled for 2:30 p.m. today with more information. It was reported that the City of Roseville loaned Hewlett-Packard 26 million dollars to come to Roseville 5 years ago and they have only paid back 7 million dollars. Heard it on 1530 KFBK, Sacramento.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 02, 1999

Answers

They split in to two companies and are now reoranizing.

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), November 02, 1999.

It's so easy. Re-organize into two seperate company's and lay off half from company one and half from company two. Man those CFO's are sure smarter than the average bear (market).

Heeee, heee , laugh or cry it doesn't matter.

-- squid (itsdark@down.here), November 02, 1999.

Not HP. It is Packard-Bell who took over the Army Depot in Sacramento.

-- Pete (phytorx@lanset.com), November 02, 1999.

I could have swore they said Hewlett Packard. However, they just announced that 1,400 employees will be let go, not 1,100. They stated that the layoff is due to monetary reasons.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 02, 1999.

From the Sacramento Bee: Link

Nov. 2, 1999, as of 2:40 p.m.

Packard Bell NEC slashes capital work force

Computer maker Packard Bell NEC said today it will cease nearly all of its operations in Sacramento, a victim of missteps and cutthroat competition in the PC industry.

The Sacramento-based maker of personal computers said it will lay off about 80 percent of its work force nationwide, including about 90 percent of its 1,500 Sacramento employees. The cuts will take place by the end of the year.

As part of its massive restructuring, Packard Bell NEC will halt all computer manufacturing and contract that portion of its business out to a company specializing in building PCs.

The company will concentrate on selling NEC brand computers to business users and effectively abandon the consumer market, where it orginally grew to prominence.

Corporate headquarters will be shifted from Sacramento to Mountain View, with about 150 people remaining in Sacramento to handle administrative, sales and other non-manufacturing tasks.

The drastic measures were forced when the company realized it would lose $150 million this year, $50 million more than it had projected.

Its parent company, NEC Corp. of Japan, refused to give Packard Bell NEC any more money to continue operations. Packard Bell's problems have been mounting in recent years.

The market share of the combined Packard Bell and NEC brands plunged from 9.4 percent in 1997 to 5.4 percent in the first half of 1999, according to Dataquest, a San Jose market research firm.

Though Packard Bell NEC was among the first to introduce sub-$1,000 PCs to the market, it has been squeezed in that space by bigger and better-financed competitors such as Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and more recently, eMachines.

Since it moved to Sacramento from Southern California in late 1994, Packard Bell has endured a volatile existence.

The company employed nearly 5,000 permanent and temporary workers at its site on Fruitridge Road in late 1995 but has since shrunk to about 1,500 as it struggled to adjust to the ups and downs of the PC industry.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), November 02, 1999.

This is when it starts every year, friends. If companies are serious about downsizing, they want to get those people off the books by year end, so the announcements start in early November.

Happy Holidays...

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), November 02, 1999.

My apologies for saying it was Hewlett Packard that was laying off people, it is in fact Packard Bell. Actually the spokesperson said that 1,400 workers of a workforce of 1,500 will be layed off. That is 95% of the workforce.

Mac, your right about "this is when it starts every year." Tom Sullivan on KFBK was reporting on this today and mentioned that more companies will be following suit. I stayed tuned but heard nothing more was said. I am sure we'll be hearing more in the next few days of other companies laying off.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 02, 1999.

My sympathy to those who will lose their jobs. This is very sad. I hate hearing about this. Many family's are hurting tonight.

-- the Virginian (1@1.com), November 02, 1999.