EMC plans staff cull despite stellar Q4

Undisclosed number of staff heading for the chop

EMC has announced plans to cut its global headcount despite boasting about a bumper Q4.

For the three months to 31 December, net income attributable to EMC jumped 12 per cent annually to $1.15bn (£760m) on sales over the same period which grew five per cent to $7bn. For the full year, net income attributable to EMC was down six per cent year on year to $2.7bn on sales which rose five per cent to $24.4bn.

EMC's Information Infrastructure group, VMware and Pivotal divisions – which make up its "federation" structure – grew annually by two per cent, 16 per cent and 18 per cent respectively in Q4.

But despite growth across the board, a restructuring plan which will result in a "reduction in force" is currently under way.

The cuts will mainly be made this quarter, the firm said in an 8-k filing accompanying the results, and will be completed by the end of 2015. It did not disclose how many staff would be affected.

Earlier this week, EMC hit back at "ridiculous" claims made by rival Pure Storage about its flash push, claiming its own all-flash product XtremIO was doing well.

In the results filing, EMC said the product's bookings more than doubled sequentially to nearly $300m in the fourth quarter, thereby "securing a commanding lead" in the all-flash space.

Its Emerging Storage division – home to XtremIO – grew 52 per cent annually for the full year, it added.

EMC chief executive Joe Tucci has high hopes for the year ahead.

"EMC demonstrated solid performance in the fourth quarter and over the course of 2014," he said. "Our strategy is working well despite a challenging and rapidly changing IT environment. The company stands at the forefront of our industry with a leading portfolio of solutions and services to help customers optimise their existing infrastructures and build new ones that take advantage of opportunities created by cloud, mobile, social and big data.

"We enter 2015 financially strong and well positioned to continue capturing greater market share."