Caldera announces layoffs

17 per cent to go

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Software, 26th April 2001 11:23 GMT

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In a brief SEC filing Linux distributor has announced that it will lay off 32 of its 188 staff ahead of closing its acquisition of SCO's Server and Services businesses. Caldera will take a one-time charge of $450,000, about half of its quarterly income.

Caldera wouldn't elaborate on whether the cuts were merger related, or performance related, although it clearly wants you to think the former. SCO already made deep cuts - axing 190 staff last September - in anticipation of the merger.

Unlike other distros, services revenue is negligible: it's pocketed by Scaldera's channel partners. Last quarter Caldera saw revenues hold up at around $1m, although its burn rate is phenomenal, at $9m per quarter. The steady income from SCO's UnixWare and OpenServer licenses can't come soon enough. ®