HP's Layoffs Taking Effect, ~500 Gone From San Diego Group
The “reduction in workforce” telegraphed by HP a few weeks ago appears to finally be taking place, according to a source inside the company. Apparently the formal emails have gone out and the entire San Diego Software unit is being rolled up.
Context & Ripple Effects
The San Diego cuts execute the 'reduction in workforce' HP telegraphed weeks earlier, and they land at a moment when the company is reshaping itself on two fronts at once: sources report HP has completed an initial bidding process for its webOS unit, with a sale or spinoff decision possibly surfacing at this week's all-hands meeting.
At the same time, HP opened a private beta for an infrastructure-as-a-service cloud built on Ubuntu Linux, per confirmations dated October 11 — one day before these layoff emails went out. Rolling up the entire San Diego Software group while standing up a cloud offering reads as a reallocation of headcount toward infrastructure and away from the device-software organizations tied to the Palm acquisition.
First-order effects
- Roughly 500 employees receive formal layoff notices as HP dissolves its entire San Diego Software unit, converting the previously announced reduction into actual terminations.
Second-order effects
- The cuts thin the engineering bench around Palm and webOS just as HP reportedly completes initial bidding for the unit — a smaller retained team changes what a buyer or spinoff would actually be acquiring if the rumored sale proceeds.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, HP is using successive workforce reductions to shift its center of gravity from consumer device software toward cloud infrastructure, with the Ubuntu-based IaaS beta absorbing priorities the acquired software groups once held.
The trend: HP is trading acquired-software headcount for a cloud-and-hardware pivot, using rolling layoffs to fund its move toward infrastructure services.