HP’s Job Cuts to Cost About $200 Million

Hewlett-Packard Co. announced Tuesday that staff reductions in the first half of its fiscal 2005 would cost the computer giant about $200 million.

The cuts are part of a reorganization that will downsize some divisions and regional offices while expanding others, HP spokesman Bob Sherbin said. The company has not determined how many positions may be eliminated or how many workers may be laid off as a result.

The company, which has added 8,000 positions in the last year, does not expect to reduce its overall workforce of 150,000 people, Sherbin said.

HP executives said this month that they probably would make cuts in the company’s servers and storage divisions.

The reductions would cost 4 cents a share from Nov. 1 through April 30, according to HP’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Palo Alto company is known for relatively generous severance packages -- at least compared with start-ups and bigger rivals in the technology industry, which still hasn’t fully recovered from the dot-com bubble of early 2000.

HP shares closed down 4 cents at $20.16 on the New York Stock Exchange.