Seagate is now the proud owner of Maxtor, but it doesn't expect to have brought the two hard disk drive operations together until next year. In the meantime, it will rid itself of half of Maxtor's worldwide workforce of 12,000 employees.

The remainder will largely be made up of Maxtor's Asia-Pacific manufacturing workers, Seagate said. The layoffs are expected to be made throughout the next six months rather than all at once. Maxtor itself laid off 900 workers this year. Seagate will end up with a 51,000-strong workforce.

Seagate said it expects the integration of Maxtor operations into its own to be "substantially completed by early calendar 2007" - more than a year after the December 2005 announcement of its decision to by Maxtor. This time next year, the company expects to have upped earnings per share by 10-20 per cent as a result of the merger.

Seagate said it would continue to offer a "full range" of Maxtor products through retail channels, where its acquisition has a stronger brand than its own. ®