HP is expected to announce a layoff of between 10,000 to 25,000 employees next week as part of new CEO Mark Hurd's restructuring plan, according to Wall Street analysts. Known internatlly as ``The Big One,'' the layoff will set the future direction of the company. The expectation was fueled by an analyst report citing a Silicon Valley insider who said HP could announce a reorg as early as Monday that might include as many as 25,000 layoffs.  (The company currently has about 150,000 employees worldwide.)


Mark Hurd

HP has declined comment so far about Hurd's strategy. He has previously said HP needs to cut costs and improve performance to compete against rivals like Dell in the PC market and IBM in larger systems and service. Hurd has already gone to the Dell well to hire his new CIO, Randy Mott. He has also brought in Todd Bradly, former PalmOne CEO to head HP's PC business. He has also re-separated the PC business from the printer business, undoing one of former CEO Carly Fiorina's more inexplicable moves.

HP has trimmed its workforce by 3,000 employees since November. Since that time, it's stock price has risen almost 40%, from the $18 to the $25 range. It had remained relatively flat, in the $20 range, over the previous two years, following a decline of about two-thirds during the dot-com debacle.

It's also been noted that Toni Sacconaghi, a Sanford Bernstein analyst, recently issued a report predicting Hurd may also cut HP's research and development budget. Sacconaghi has estimated that Hurd might cut HP's relatively large R&D budget by 8 to 15%, or $250 million to $500 million.

Meanwhile, HP has tried to re-re-invent the printer market through a new quantum leap in printer performance through a new technology. This business was one in which HP was a pioneer 15 years ago and which remains tremendously profitable to the company.