Digital Equipment Corp acknowledges that it is contemplating big new lay-offs over the next 12 months. The new cuts, following on from the 10,000 that have gone over the past 18 months, will reach 9,000 to 10,000, 9% of its 120,000-strong pay-roll, if it continues to see only sluggish growth in turnover. Analysts expect DEC to take a charge of as much as $250m, probably with this quarter’s figures, to cover job-cutting programmes and factory closures. The company says that there is no connection between any new cuts and disappointing orders on VAX 9000.
