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Sun Microsystems Inc. is cutting about 3 percent of the jobs at the company in a move to help improve profits.
Sun currently has 36,000 employees, so the cutbacks will affect about 1,080 positions.
The move comes two days after Chairman and CEO Scott McNealy told reporters during the Sun Network 2003 Conference and Pavilion that Sun would not be cutting jobs but that competitors in the IT industry would need to make major cutbacks in employees as the industry shifts. He had spoken about the need for fewer employees in the IT industry and for less expensive product during his earlier keynote.
Asked about McNealys earlier statements, Sun spokeswoman May Goh Petry said in an e-mail interview that “there are not layoffs. This is no different than standard business realignment.”
Sun in a statement on Thursday said that the company will replace many of the lost jobs through new ones. The company has about 900 open positions, Petry said, but she would not clarify whether the company is actively trying to fill all of those positions.
Sun would not specify which business units would be affected by the cuts or in what areas new jobs would occur. Petry said the overall affect on headcount would not be significant.
“We are going to allocate resources to meet the highest needs of the business,” Petry said.
Sun expects to make most of the cuts by the end of September with some continuing into the companys second and third fiscal quarters.
Sun has continually shed employees over the past two year. It had 43,683 employees at the end of fiscal 2001 and 39,100 at the end of fiscal 2002.
In its fiscal year the ended June 30, Sun lost $2.38 billion, or 75 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $587 million, or 18 cents per share in fiscal year 2002. The company did see a slight profit for its last quarter, earning $12 million in net income.