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HP Inc to pink-slip 3,300 workers amid biz-split bloodbath

PCs-and-printing side of IT giant also shedding workers, talks up 3D printers

HP Inc – the bit of HP that makes printers and PC – will shed 3,300 jobs, it was revealed on Tuesday.

HP is splitting in two formally on November 1, forming Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. HP Inc, which will be based around HP's personal systems and printing groups, will report $6.8bn total debt when it begins operating as a solo entity.

To help keep costs down, CFO Cathy Lesjack confirmed HP Inc will reduce its headcount by 3,300 people, taking a charge of $300m in the process.

The news comes just hours after HP Enterprise said it will slash between 25,000 and 30,000 jobs. The revelations emerged from a briefing day in San Jose, California, on Tuesday, during which HP execs put on their best smiles and told the tech industry that everything is going to be OK.

Incoming CEO Dion Weisler said HP Inc will put a focus on printing, with a special emphasis on the 3D printing market. HP said its first commercial 3D printing model will arrive late next year.

"My goal is, in the very near future when you hear 3D printing, you only think of one company," Weisler said.

HP Inc will also aim to expand its role in the enterprise printing market, taking aim at the so-called 'A3' market of devices such as office copiers and hardware for commercial printing businesses.

Weisler noted that HP continues to face what executives politely termed a "headwind" in the PC and printer markets, with the recent Windows 10 rollout and lingering Windows 8 products complicating the market.

"The PC business is like selling fish," said Weisler. "It's great when it's fresh, it goes off quickly, and when it goes off it makes you sick."

HP, which employed 302,000 people in mid-2015, is just emerging from its previous round of redundancies in which it binned roughly 58,000 workers. ®

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