economy

Updated at 4:55 p.m. PT to correct when employees first received the memo.

Though Hewlett-Packard briefly mentioned during its earnings call Wednesday that it would be reducing compensation across the board, employees got an explanation from management in a detailed memo starting that same afternoon.

Chief executive Mark Hurd sent a long memo to his employees Thursday morning detailing his decision to cut salaries and reduce benefits in order to avoid further layoffs in this recession-battered economy.

Hurd frames his decision as "pretty straightforward." He will take a 20-percent pay cut, executive council members will take … Read more

Jobs, taxes, and travel captured the interest of U.S. Internet surfers in January, marking double-digit to triple-digit gains over the previous month, according to a ComScore report released Thursday.

The number of unique visitors heading to tax sites climbed 176 percent to 24,703 in January, as users geared up for the upcoming tax season, according to ComScore.

Travel sites, meanwhile, posted a 46 percent increase to 13,028 visitors last month, as users took advantage of falling fuel prices and a desire to plan ahead for their vacations, while job search sites climbed 42 percent to 26,702 … Read more

Updated at 3:15 p.m. PST with details from the conference call.

Hewlett-Packard is facing the reality of the recession, and finally slipped up on its earnings.

For the fiscal first quarter, the PC maker earned a profit of $1.9 billion, or 75 cents per share. That's down 9.5 percent from a profit of $2.1 billion, or 80 cents per share, the same quarter a year ago. It recorded a 1 percent uptick in revenue from a year ago, at $28.8 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $31.9 billion, and earnings of 93 … Read more

The global financial crisis has caused many of the largest technology vendors to rethink how they approach the market. At Lenovo, that has meant changes at the very top of its business. Last week the Chinese PC maker announced it had cut ties with Bill Amelio, its CEO of three years, and installed company chairman Yang Yuanqing as the new chief executive.

Lenovo co-founder Liu Chuanzhi was brought back as company chairman and in one of the first interviews after the changes were announced, commented that his company would be refocusing its efforts on China and other emerging markets for … Read more

Corrected at 4:55 p.m. PST to reflect that printers and ink account for one-third of HP's revenue, not half.

With the PC market in its biggest rut since 2001, Hewlett-Packard's earnings report, which will come after the market closes on Wednesday, will likely be one of the few bright spots for the industry.

Four months ago we looked at each of the top five PC makers and how they'd fare in a hypothetical recession. Some things have changed since then: we're officially in a recession now, and the Dow Jones is near its lowest … Read more

Update: This article was corrected to reflect that the information is for the fourth quarter of 2008, not the whole year.

The liquid crystal display TV market is beginning to lose some steam.

The fourth quarter was the first time that the total number of shipments of LCD TVs in North America was lower than the same quarter the previous year. Just 8.7 million units were shipped during the last quarter of 2008, a 2 percent decline from the 8.9 million shipped during the same time in 2007, according to data released Thursday by DisplaySearch, which tracks the … Read more

On a day after the stock market suffered through one of its classic fits of pique at the news du jour, it's hard to find any bright side to a 382-point loss. But something's happening here and--apologies to the immortal Buffalo Springfield--what's taking place is becoming increasingly clear.

The conventional wisdom is that these are (among) the worst of times, with the tech economy hostage to the vagaries of the larger global economy. I suppose that it's reasonable to expect things to get a lot worse before they get any better. But how about some historical … Read more

Nokia, the largest handset maker in the world, is cutting jobs at one plant and closing down at least one R&D site, as demand for cell phones plummets amid the worldwide recession.

The Finnish company said Wednesday that it will cut production at a key plant in Salo, Finland. It also plans to temporarily lay off about 20 percent to 30 percent of the plant's 2,500 employees on a rotational basis. All workers at the plant will be affected as groups rotate through the temporary layoffs.

Nokia also plans to shut down one R&D … Read more

Forrester Research is cutting its workforce by about 5 percent, or 50 jobs, worldwide, the company said on Monday.

The research firm expects to incur pre-tax expenses of about $2.5 million to $3 million in the first quarter related mostly to severance and benefits-related costs.

"We have made this difficult decision in response to challenging global economic conditions," George F. Colony, Forrester's chief executive, said in a statement. "Forrester has lived through tough economic times before. We are confident that with our role-based strategy and our current offerings, we are well-poised to successfully deliver what … Read more