May 1st, 2008
Sun plans layoffs following weak quarter; Blames U.S. economy
Sun Microsystems’ third quarter results were hurt by “significant challenges” related to the slowing U.S. economy. Sun also plans to cut 1,500 and 2,500 jobs.
The company on Thursday reported a third quarter net loss of $34 million, or 4 cents a share, on revenue of $3.26 billion, down 0.5 percent from a year ago. Excluding a 4 cents a share charge related to the acquisition of MySQL Sun roughly broke even.
No matter how you slice Sun’s financials the company fell well short of Wall Street estimates calling for a profit of 18 cents a share on revenue of $3.37 billion. On a conference call, CFO Michael Lehman said that Sun’s restructuring will result in a $130 million to $220 million charge in its fiscal fourth quarter
Sun talked up progress in the emerging markets, but couldn’t overcome a weak economy. “The U.S. economy presented Sun with significant challenges in the third quarter,” said Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz in a statement.
Among the key slides:
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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