Don’t these guys understand that the company is on the rack, that it might very well not be around much longer in any form unless it savages its costs? A ragged band of 14 employees from five European countries flew to the Digital Equipment Corp annual meeting in Boston last week to demand a meeting with senior executives to discuss impending lay-offs: president Robert Palmer confidently laid out to the meeting the company’s plans to return to profitability, saying job cuts and divestments, a shift in management style and other measures will cut annualised expenses by $1,000m in fiscal 1995 and by $1,800m in fiscal 1996, helping the firm return to profitability; the ongoing restructuring, financed by its $1,200m charge in July against fourth quarter earnings, is focused on its core computer systems division, where many of the remaining problems lie, he said.
