IBM Lays Off 1,500 Employees

IBM Corp. on Wednesday laid off 1,573 employees, as part of a continuing overhaul of its services unit, the company said.

Most of the layoffs came from IBM's services unit and most from North America, said Edward Barbini, a company spokesman. The layoffs were part of a restructuring effort the company announced during its first quarter financial results presentation in April.

During the earnings calls, IBM Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge said the company needed to address the cost of its services unit in North America. "We said then we were going to do this," Barbini said.

Based on past layoffs, about 20 percent of those laid off Wednesday will find other jobs at IBM, Barbini said. At the end of 2006, IBM had about 355,000 employees.

According to union leaders, IBM laid off more than 1,300 people from its global services division earlier this month.