Compaq, the world's number one maker of personal computers, issued a profit warning and announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs Thursday after being hit by a PC price war.
The firm slashed its earnings predictions for the first quarter of this year by about a third, less than two months after reporting a 55% rise in profits for the last three months of 2000.
Some analysts had predicted 18 cents per share, Compaq now told them it would be more like 12 or 14 cents.
The job cuts will affect about 7% of the giant's staff and will come as its commercial and consumer PC operations merge in an effort to slash costs.
Compaq, the world's number one maker of personal computers, issued a profit warning and announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs Thursday after being hit by a PC price war.