Tidbits
Phooey! Remember last year? IBM posted almost a $2 billion loss and laid
off thousands…Apple posted a loss in the hundreds of millions and laid
off hundreds…so did most other big companies…Commodore was one of the
very few to post a profit last year. DEC is just doing now what IBM,
Apple, Wang and others did last year.
There was a $1.5 billion one-time restructuring charge in DEC's loss,
similar to what IBM and Apple had. (Heck, IBM is *still* offering "early
retirement" to darn near anyone who'll take it.)
DEC is the second largest computer manufacturer in the world (after IBM)
and the largest supplier of networked computer systems and networking
devices for computers.
They just changed upper management and are instituting a cost-cutting and
"down sizing" plan very similar to that of IBM and Apple.
DEC's financials are nothing to get worried over — it is an industry
phenomena not peculiar to DEC. What *would* be bad news is if they didn't
react to it…but, they did.
-Chas