JULY 15, 2005

Hewlett-Packard faces major cuts

Williams F1 primary sponsor Hewlett-Packard will soon announce a restructuring plan that could lead to major job cuts as the computer company cuts costs. This could have an effect on the company's F1 sponsorship, which was inherited when the firm took over Compaq. It is known that Hewlett-Packard was less than impressed by what happened at the United States Grand Prix. Reports suggest that HP could axe as much as 10% of its current workforce, which would make an F1 sponsorship difficult to justify in the future. The company currently employs around 150,000 people and there have been suggestions that the cuts could be as high as 25,000 people.

Things have been changing in recent months following the departure as chief executive Carly Fiorina in February. She was replaced by Mark Hurd and the cuts have been expected for some time. Hurd was previously employed at NCR where he returned the company to profitability at the expense of a large number of workers.