Date: 05-05-2008
Sun Microsystems Inc. has registered an unexpected loss in the quarterly earnings which has prompted the company to cut as many as 2,500 jobs after the sales slump. Sun has attributed its loss to tax expenses, which amounted to a whopping $52 million. The net loss incurred is about $34 million. The computer company also blamed costs relating to its takeover of the Swedish software firm MySQL, as well as a 9.7% drop in orders from US customers. The job cuts will erase about 7.5% of Sun’s total workforce of 33,500. Analysts from Thomson Financial and the Wall Street Journal had expected that the company’s strong global base would enable the company post profitable quarterly results, but the results stunned analysts and investors alike. CEO Jonathan Schwartz has expanded Sun’s software business to increase the sales of its servers, which lost market share last year. He is even offering programs to customers for free in anticipation of selling more services and hardware.
