Dell to cut 8,800 jobs

Dell said it is laying off 8,800 staff, or about 10 per cent of headcount, after another quarter of flaccid growth. First-quarter profits were slightly down after revenues grew less than three percent on the year-ago period. The numbers were deemed "preliminary" as Dell continues to get to get to grips with an accounting investigation.

After making life hard for thousands of competitors in PCs through the 1990s, Dell has recently had a taste of its own medicine through renewed competition from HP, Acer and others, as well as suffering from the rise of the likes of Apple and boutique brands at the top-end of the market.

Motorola said earlier this week that it will cut an extra 4,000 jobs to the 3,500 announced just six months ago. Moto is struggling to make sense of its handset business as the RAZR line has palled by comparison with nicer designs.

IBM also fulfilled predictions by saying it would lay off over 1,500 jobs, mostly from its consulting business.

These are strange times for the information economy. There are coffers aplenty for Web 2.0 VC, a sharp appetite for M&A, and pretty good business and consumer demand on the plus side. However, globalisation, margin shaving and consolidation are raining on the parade.

Thinking close to home, the Dell and Moto news in particular could be bad for Ireland, where both firms have big operations. µ