Hewlett’s Oyster firm buy to cost 25,000 jobs
Computer giant Hewlett-Packard will sack 24,600 people around the world, with a substantial job cull expected in the UK, as it digests services firm Electronic Data Systems, creator of the Oyster card.
Half the jobs will go in the US with the rest slashed from operations in Britain and elsewhere. EDS employs 16,500 people at 200 sites in the UK.
Chief executive Mark Hurd, who aims to save up to $1.8 billion (£1 billion) a year, said individual workers will now their fate "soon".
H-P bought EDS last month for $13.2 billion. The cuts, over three years, amount to 7.5% of the combined workforce. Unite, the union representing staff from both companies in the UK, says it "will closely monitor the impact".
National officer Peter Skyte said: "We will oppose any attempt to return to the slash-and-burn approach favoured by IT companies in the past."
EDS, headquartered in Berkeley Square, has been operating in the UK since 1984, and gets 20% of its revenue from Britain.
It developed, marketed and administers the Oyster card for Transport for London, and provides consulting and tech support for the Ministries of Justice and Defence.
It faced anger in the Commons in 2004 over payment problems at the Child Support Agency and in 2003 lost a $3 billion (£1.7 billion) contract to provide services for the Inland Revenue after hitches in the introduction of a tax credits system.
