IBM earned nearly US$4.5 billion in the final quarter of 2008. But that hasn't sheltered the company from the ubiquitous trend toward cost-cutting.
So far, neither the Journal nor anyone else has obtained even a rough body count of the planned reductions. IBM employs nearly 400,000 people in 170 countries, of whom 115,000 are in the U.S. The global business services group is IBM's largest by far, with a headcount around 180,000. In February, IBM offered laid-off U.S. employees a chance to and work there at local wages.