IBM Blasts 'Ludicrous' Rumors Of 110,000 Job Cuts

(RTTNews) - IBM on Monday refuted a blogger's claim the company plans 110,000 job cuts.

Robert Cringely last week reported that IBM would slash 26 percent of its global workforce as part of a reorganization referred to as Project Chrome.

"To fix its business problems and speed up its 'transformation' … about 26% of IBM's employees will be getting phone calls from their managers. A few hours later a package will appear on their doorsteps with all the paperwork. Project Chrome will hit many of the worldwide services operations," Cringely wrote.

IBM blasted the article in a press release.

"IBM does not comment on rumors or speculation. However, we'll make an exception when the speculation is stupid. That's the case here, where an industry gadfly is trying to make noise about how IBM is about to lay off 26 percent of its workforce. That's over 100,000 people, which is totally ludicrous."

"The fact is that IBM already announced, after 3Q earnings report, that the company would take a $600 million charge for restructuring. That's several thousand people. Not 10,000, or 100,000."