The Job Cuts Begin: Dell Confirms Layoffs

Dell Technologies is planning layoffs in the wake of its acquisition of EMC, Dell has confirmed to CRN.

Employees from both the Dell and EMC sides of the house are being laid off, including backend office people and personnel associated with the companies' backup and recovery, and other storage teams, sources told CRN.

A Dell spokesperson confirmed the layoffs via email. The spokesperson declined to offer specifics on the numbers or types of positions being cut but said that the actual number is not material to the company's financials.

"The number is not material to Dell Technologies’ headcount of approximately 140,000. As is common with mergers of this size, there is a need to manage some overlapping job functions. We hope to minimize the impact on jobs and expect that revenue gains will outweigh resulting cost savings, with revenue growth driving future employment," the spokesperson said via email.

Dell, which closed the EMC deal Sept. 7, had been expected to cut employees as it started integrating the two companies. Bloomberg reported last month that Dell was expected to layoff 2,000 to 3,000 people.

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Several solution providers told CRN that they are not surprised to hear the layoffs are starting. Some told CRN that they've seen layoffs already happening throughout Dell's backend office.

Jamie Shepard, senior vice president for health care and strategy at Lumenate, a Dallas-based solution provider and Dell partner, told CRN via text message that difficult decisions like layoffs are inevitable when two significant companies join forces.

"Most cuts are overlap, none strategic and/or not part of the new Dell EMC program. To me very normal and a must once the two firms begin to integrate, gel, morph and then execute as a new technology powerhouse with a focused team that [has] the 'right' skill sets to address this new world," Shepard wrote.

Shepard wrote that he expects more streamlining to happen at Dell as the company's model begins to solidify. "Happy that they have not lingered in their decisions as it can confuse the new model moving forward," he said.