Hewlett Packard now: $2 Billion Qtr. Loss, more layoffs

Yahoo tech line ^ | 10/3/2002 | MATTHEW FORDAHL, AP Technology Writer

[Jack Black]

Associated Press

HP to Cut Additional 1,800 Jobs Citing Continued Weak Demand, Hewlett-Packard Co. Will Cut 1,800 Jobs Beyond the 15,000 Planned Wednesday September 25, 9:55 pm ET

By MATTHEW FORDAHL, AP Technology Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Citing continued weak demand, Hewlett-Packard Co. said Wednesday it will cut 1,800 jobs beyond the 15,000 reductions planned as part of its Compaq Computer Corp. acquisition. In a note sent to employees Tuesday, the company blamed the latest reductions on a "continued market slowdown and HP's clear intent to have a competitive, world-class cost structure."

As of the third quarter, which ended July 31, the company had reduced its net headcount by 4,740. The remaining cuts, totaling about 12,000, are expected to be completed by Oct. 31, the end of the company's current fiscal year.

Like other high-tech companies, Palo Alto-based HP has been hit hard by a slowdown in spending by large corporate customers, a slump that has lasted longer than first expected.

The company's bottom line also has suffered because of weak demand for personal computers. Its printing and imaging division, however, continues to do well despite the economic downturn.

In the letter to employees, HP executives said the company continues to hire in some areas, including printing and services.

The $18.9 billion merger with Houston-based Compaq closed May 3 after one of the most ferocious proxy battles in American corporate history. Combined, the companies had 150,000 employees.

In its first full results since the deal was finalized in May, HP lost $2.03 billion in its fiscal third quarter, compared to a loss of $116 million if the companies had been together last year.

Shares of HP gained 55 cents to close Wednesday at $12.84 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hewlett-Packard: http://www.hp.com

[Dan Cooper]

To be fair, Agilent split off from HP before Carly was brought on board. The idea was to free HP from the humdrum drag of all that test equipment so as a leaner and meaner company they could take over the commodity computer market and the nebulous "internet services" market.

Agilent was made up, for a hefty sum, by some image consulting firm. It is suppposed to imply "agility". It could also imply "agile NOT". Extra points if you figure out the anagram for Agilent.

[johndpringle]

So true. She and the President of Compac made out like bandits on the merger of these two companies. I remember, when I first heard the news of the planned merger, thinking that Micheal Dell would be jumping up and down with glee. A couple of days later I read in a newspaper article that Michael Dell WAS jumping up and down with glee. Ms. Fiorina is a disaster for H.P., but she is rich so why would she care?

[Cicero]

I've had good luck with a series of HP LaserJets I've bought over the years. Each one has been better than the last, and they've all done yeoman service.

Even in the old days HP unfortunately went in for left-wing politics. I think they funded a foundation to kill babies internationally (i.e. population control), and similar activities. I hope that foundation still holds plenty of HP stock.

I'll miss their printers. Otherwise, I can't work up a lot of concern at this point. Too bad Carly will leave with a sweet severance package. They should turn her upside down and shake the cash out of her pockets before they show her the door.

[Bubba_Leroy]

I still have the HP financial calculator that I bought when I was in grad school over 20 years age. The last time I tried using it, it still worked.

I use my 20 year old HP-12C almost daily. It never ceases to amaze me that 20 years after they first came out with that model they are still selling it. I also swear by HP laser printers, which seem to last forever.

I bought an HP notebook computer and it was crap. They need to stick with what they do well rather than try and compete with Dell in the PC market.

[kilohertz]

>> Extra points if you figure out the anagram for Agilent.

I ran it through an anagram program. Here are some good ones:

GENITAL
ATINGLE
GELATIN
GLEAN IT
GET NAIL
LATE GIN
GNAT LIE

[FreedomPoster]

>> my wife bought me a $4 non-RPN replacement from China

Can you actually make a non-RPN calculator "go"? I get about 3 operations in, and screw up, on a non-RPN. Cut my teeth on an early HP-31 (still some of the best ergonomics going, from a size and shape standpoint), then one of the first HP-41's.

[abenaki]

Many years ago, I was issued a state-of-the-art H-P hand held calculator at work. I don't recall the madel number. I left it unguarded for a few minutes, and it was stolen. Then, a few years later on, I found out that my own boss had stolen it !! Hope it still works.

[The Duke]

Hurricane Carly has hit HP hard. I still cannot figure her strategy out. Get rid of all of the high-value added product lines like electronic test equipment, medical electronics etc. and focus on building low-value added products like PC's. This is a whizbang financial genius CEO of the 21st century?

I didn't realize this was her strategy at HP - if so it's plain and simple corporate suicide. Gosh, it was the scientific and medical equipment markets that put HP on the market. It's crazy to divest of lucrative niches in exchange for fighting for lowest price in techno-commodities.

[Dan Cooper]

That's cheating :), but number one on your list is what we figured out while I was working there.

[snopercod]

Fourteen Inches!!! Wow! Now that't a MANLY tool!

[snopercod]

Can you actually make a non-RPN calculator "go"?

My mind still thinks in RPN, so it's painful to use this piece of crap. Mostly I just use it for trig functions these days.

If I ever get another job in engineering, I will have to replace it with a real calculator.

When I was a startup engineer at the Cholla#4 power plant (Joseph City, AZ), I used my HP-45 to do some curve fitting, which was needed to calibrate the "percent load" gage for the steam turbines. It was really cool.

I think that was the only time in my entire career that I actually used any thermodynamics, and also the only time I had to use steam tables.

Surprised the hell out of me when the gage in the control room actually worked!

At that same plant, I saw an H-P instrument that made me want to fall on my knees in reverence: The Structural Dynamics Analyzer. It was a real-time Laplace Transformer.

They had this instrument hooked up to monitor deviations in the shaft frequency of the main turbine/generator, and fed "pink noise" into the exciter. This H-P instrument integrated this data over a period of days, and displayed a frequency response plot of the massive rotating equipment from zero to 60 Hz. They were looking for resonant points that would have to be "tuned out" in the exciter to prevent sub-synchronous oscillation.

If that wasn't impressive enough, you could, with a few keystrokes, enter your compensation parameters and re-plot the frequency response as it would look with the compensation in place.

I have NEVER seen a piece of test equipment so powerful, or so far ahead of it's time.

[Billy_bob_bob]

Wow. Color me impressed. This is exactly the kind of thing that HP should be focusing on, not trying to sell a zillion cheap PC's into a flooded market. Oh, I guess that's what "Agilent" is supposed to be doing, right? So, how's Agilent been doing lately?

[SamAdams76]

This is somewhat old news (some two weeks ago). Since then, HP (HPQ) has announced some good news, such as increased revenues in the services sector. Still, I wish Carly would get the boot. And the Compaq acquistion was not a good move in my opinion. Ironically, Compaq made the same kind of mistake by acquiring Digital. So now you have a bad company wrapped inside a bad company wrapped inside a company that is quickly going down the toilet. Dump Carly!

[Nick Danger]

Get this. It is a wonderful thing.

[snopercod]

No idea how Agilent is doing. but you might want to look at Sage, instead. Oh, I should have mentioned that the story I just told took place in 1980! Apparently, this is the guy that invented the Structural Dynamics Analyzer:

David L. Formenti, Sage Technologies, will be the featured speaker at the September 18 meeting of the Santa Clara Valley Control Systems Society. He will discuss an approach for troubleshooting structural dynamics problems as they relate to servo controlled mechanisms.

Measurement techniques will be discussed and illustrated for the measurement of operational and structural dynamic characteristics for the purpose of diagnosing vibration problems. Formenti will then demonstrate Frequency Response Function measurements and how one can interpret them for an understanding of structures modes of vibration.

David Formenti has been working at Sage Technologies for the last four years as a sales engineer covering Northern California and Nevada. Prior to Sage, he was the applications engineering manager for Data Physics Corporation responsible for customer support, training and software development project management.

Previous to Data Physics he held various engineering and management positions at GenRad's Structural Test Products Division (Spectral Dynamics). He was a co-founder of Structural Measurement Systems (SMS), a producer of noise and vibration analysis software for 10 years. From 1976 to 1979, he was at Hewlett Packard where he was the main product development engineer for the HP5423A, the company's first structural dynamic analyzer.

Most of his practical experience comes from the GM Noise & Vibration Laboratory as a project engineer. Throughout his career, he has had the opportunity to learn from engineers and technicians while lecturing around the world on structural analysis, digital signal processing, and vibration control. He has a BS in metallurgical engineering and an MS in engineering mechanics from Michigan Technological University.

[snopercod]

Just downloaded it, and will try it out. Thanks so much!

[EVO X]

In all fairness, it's hard to be a computer company these days unless you're Microsoft, Intel, or Dell. It's especially hard to be a PC computer company, which is what HP effectively has become now (I think their Unix and HP3000 (?) lines are being de-emphasized.)

Dell doesn't have a lot of baggage to contend with. While HP and CPQ are sorting things out, Dell is free to concentrate on new products.

[Fresh Wind]

Thanks for the link. The Windoze calculator can go in the trash now. I just wish they had chosen something other than "Reverse Polish" for this entry system. It sounds like a bad ethnic joke. RPN rules!!

[snopercod]

Oh, I forgot to mention the best part.

When they had the Structural Dynamics Analyzer set up with all the associated amplifiers, cables, etc., somehow they drove the test setup with the "pink noise", and stored the response in the memory of the SDA, which was automatically subtracted from the final data.

[usconservative]

I wonder how long before the 1 for 10 reverse split? Or will it be 1 for 20?

I wonder how long the stock will remain at an artifically inflated rate after the reverse split.

Lucent is one f'ed up company...