Now, Dell fires 6,600 employees

After HP, its competitor Dell has fired 6,600 employees.

Washington, Feb 06: Dell Technologies Inc., is the latest tech firm to reduce its workforce as the American multinational technology company headquartered in Round Rock has fired 6,600 jobs, Bloomberg reported citing a memo from the company.

The company is laying off 5 per cent of its global workforce, the spokesperson said. Dell is experiencing market conditions that "continue to erode with an uncertain future," Co-Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke said in a memo which has been viewed by Bloomberg. As per the letter, the company has put a pause on hiring and has imposed limits on travel as part of cost-cutting measures, but it is not enough. Hence, the department reorganisations and job cuts are seen as an opportunity to drive efficiency, the spokesperson said.

"We've navigated economic downturns before and we've emerged stronger," Clarke told the employees in the letter. "We will be ready when the market rebounds."

The company now has its lowest workforce in at least six years after firing 6,600 employees.

Going by the preliminary data, personal computer shipments dropped sharply in the fourth quarter of 2022 and Dell, which earns about 55 per cent revenue from the sale of PCs, witnessed the largest decline - 37% compared with the same period in 2021, according to IDC.

It has to be noted that Dell's competitor HP had announced in November that it would reduce gross global headcount by approximately 4,000-6,000 employees. "These actions are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2025," said the company in the press note announcing its quarterly results.

The fear of recession has loomed large with several MNCs initiating cost-cutting measures. In the last few months, many IT companies have fired their employees and restructured their workforce. In the last six months, 50 enterprises laid off more than 90,000 staff globally with META, Amazon and Alibaba firing over 10,000 employees, each.