More Dell Firings?

Dell Computer Corp. may soon fire thousands more people, after cutting 1,700 jobs in February, as the biggest U.S. personal computer maker tries to reduce expenses to make up for steep PC price cuts, analysts said. The company may fire about 3,000 people, or about 8% of its work force, said Ashok Kumar, an analyst at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. Dell spokesman Michael Maher declined to comment. “They need to reduce operating expenses by $100 million and that’s done through a head count reduction by another 3,000 at least,” Kumar said. More firings may signal that Dell’s aggressive price-cutting, meant to win market share as PC sales growth slows, is hurting profit more than executives expected. Dell shares rose 24 cents to close at $26.24 on Nasdaq.