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EMC Ireland awaits news on job cuts
Friday, September 21 2001
by Andrew McLindon


EMC's Irish operation is waiting to see whether it will escape job cuts following
the company's announced plans to reduce its global workforce by 10 percent. 

The storage systems and software company said on Friday that due to the current
economic slowdown it would need to generate USD1.8 billion in revenue to break
even for the third quarter. As a result, it will be cutting 10 percent of its
workforce by year-end as part of a cost reduction effort that will be "sweeping
in scope." The company currently employs over 23,000 people worldwide. 

 

EMC employs more than 1,500 people in Ireland, with the vast majority of the jobs
at its facility in Ovens, Co. Cork. A spokesperson for EMC told ElectricNews.Net
that it was waiting for a directive from the US regarding any possible impact
here. "It was a preliminary forecast and we just don't know at this time how it
is going to affect the Irish operation, if at all," said the spokesperson. She
added that a decision is unlikely to be made until the company's final earnings
are released. They are due at the end of September or in the first week of
October. 

 

The Cork facility is the home of EMC's international operations including its
Technology Centre, the International Executive Briefing Centre, the Internet
Services Group and its Worldwide Customer Service Centre. The Cork operation was
established by EMC in 1988 and was the company's first manufacturing facility
outside of North America. It is understood that EMC has invested more than USD400
million in its Irish operation during that time. 

 

However, a positive sign for the Irish operation is that it escaped the last
round of job cuts announced by the company earlier this summer. The Cork facility
is also said, by a source close to the company, to have been busy over the last
few months. 

 

In July of this year, EMC announced a 75 percent drop in earnings to USD0.05 per
share for the second quarter of 2001. This compared with earnings of USD0.19 per
share for the second quarter of 2000.

 

"I cannot recall a more difficult environment in terms of technology spending
than the one that has unfolded over the past few months," said EMC's executive
chairman, Mike Ruettgers, at the time. "The global economic environment has
become much tougher. It is now expected that IT spending may shrink on a
year-to-year basis for the first time in decades."

 

Analysts have said they expected the company to earn USD0.01 a share for the
third quarter of 2001. This compared to earnings of USD458.2 million, or USD0.20
a share, on revenue of USD2.28 billion, for the third quarter 2000.