HP plans 27,000 job cuts, more than $3B in savings

Hewlett Packard Co. (HPQ-N) outlined a plan on Wednesday to lay off roughly 27,000 employees or about 8 percent of its workforce to jumpstart growth.

The layoffs, which will be mainly achieved through early retirement offers, will generate annual savings of $3 billion to $3.5 billion US as it exits fiscal 2014, the company said.

The world's No. 1 personal computer maker, which employs more than 300,000 people across the globe, also reported a three percent decline in quarterly revenue.

The job cuts, savings from which would be reinvested in the company, are "necessary to improve execution and to fund the long term health of the company," Chief Executive Meg Whitman said in a statement.

The company will take a pretax charge of $1.7 billion in fiscal 2012 because of the cost-cutting plan, it said.

HP said net revenue in the fiscal second quarter fell to $30.7 billion. Analysts had predicted revenue of $29.92 billion on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.