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Cutting thousands of jobs in the fourth quarter
Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM, arrives for the Inaugural AI Insight Forum in Russell Building on Capitol Hill, on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
IBM said Tuesday that it will lay off a small percentage of its employees in the current quarter.
“In the fourth quarter we are executing an action that will impact a low single-digit percentage of our global workforce,” a spokesperson told CNBC. “While this may impact some U.S.-based roles, we anticipate that our U.S. employment will remain flat year over year.”
IBM employed 270,000 people at the end of 2024, according to its latest annual report. A 1% cut to headcount would represent the loss of 2,700 jobs.
Other technology companies have been slimming down lately, with executives looking for ways to improve productivity by increasing reliance on artificial intelligence tools.
In October, Amazon said that it would cut 14,000 corporate employees, while Facebook parent Meta said its AI unit would get rid of 600 workers.
On Oct. 22, IBM delivered stronger earnings than expected, thanks to a 10% jump in revenue from software, meeting consensus.
CEO Arvind Krishna has helped IBM expand its revenue base since he replaced Ginni Rometty in 2020.
The hardware, software and services provider said goodbye to some marketing and communications staff members in March 2024.
AI agents took over the work of about 200 people in human resources, leading the company to bring on more salespeople and software developers, Krishna told The Wall Street Journal in May.
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