[smk_]

While speaking from limited expertise, it is my general understanding these layoffs are a vital part in keeping a company lean and reducing bloat. Over time, in any company, some roles will be made redundant and is the reason for these occasional layoffs. If I was an investor, I would see this as a good sign of vision and a clear direction.

They say so themselves: > "To stay competitive, we need to remove duplication of work now that we are one Arm; stop work that is no longer critical to our future success; and think about how we get work done."

[phendrenad2]

Exactly. When faced with a slowdown in demand you can either be IBM and cut aggressively, or you can be DEC and keep people employed working on inane doomed projects until the company falls flat.