Dell cutting 900 jobs in Texas
Dell Inc. is committed to reducing costs and will cut more jobs than the 8,800 previously announced as it tries to become more competitive, Michael Dell, founder and CEO of the world’s second largest computer maker, said Thursday.
At the first full analyst meeting since 2005, Dell addressed the ongoing turnaround of the company, which was eclipsed as the world’s largest PC maker in 2006 by Hewlett-Packard Co.
“We have identified a very significant opportunity here and are aggressively going after it,” Dell said. “To be very clear, we are not satisfied with the current state of affairs and we are on a mission to address this.”
Dell aims to cut $3 billion over the next several years to boost profits.
Last year, the company announced plans to cut 8,800 jobs, or 10 percent of its work force. The company this week announced plans to cut 900 jobs in the Austin, Texas, area by closing a plant.
•Bombardier Inc. said Thursday it’s on the way to completing a financial turnaround after boosting annual profit, revenues and cash flow on strong results from both its aircraft and rail divisions.
The world’s third largest civilian plane manufacturer reported an annual profit of $317 million, up from $268 million in the previous year. Revenue was $17.5 billion in the year ended Jan. 31, up 18 percent from $14.9 billion in its previous financial year.
At Bombardier Aerospace, full-year revenue increased 17 percent to $9.7 billion (6.25 billion euros) as business jets and regional airliners enjoyed strong demand.
Division President Pierre Beaudoin said the weakening U.S. economy has had no effect, as a backlog has increased thanks to growing orders outside the United States.
About 70 percent of Bombardier’s business jet orders came from outside the U.S. last year.
•A government crash test of the 2008 Smart Fortwo micro car has found a safety concern in side-impact testing.
During the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration side test on the Smart two-door, the driver door unlatched and opened. The government says that could lead to a driver or passenger being ejected from the vehicle.
But NHTSA still gave the car its top score of five stars in side testing because of the level of protection the car gives the driver and passenger.
A Smart spokesman did not immediately comment on Thursday. Smart, a division of Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz brand, began selling the cars in the United States this year.