By John Geralds, VNU
Net
Troubled office software maker Corel said last week it would
slash 21 per cent of its workforce following last month’s
termination of its planned merger with Inprise/Borland.
Some 320 jobs across the board will go, mostly from Corel’s
Ottawa headquarters. The redundancies are part of the company’s
goal to reduce costs by $40m on an annualised basis.
Michael Cowpland, Corel’s president and chief executive, said in
a statement: “After much careful deliberation, the company
concluded that these steps were necessary.”
In an April filing with the US Securities and Exchange
Commission, Corel had warned that it could run out of cash within
90 days if the merger did not go ahead. The merger would have given
Corel a $240m cash injection.
Cowpland also plans to forgo his salary, which last year
amounted to $199,000, for the year.
The layoffs will reduce Corel’s headcount to around 1200, but
analysts said further cost cutting measures would be needed to
ensure the company meets its $40m target.
The cuts come in spite of a much needed $9.98m cash injection
from Canaccord Capital last month.