Compaq Computer Corp. issued an earnings warning after the close of the New York financial markets Thursday – the second in as many quarters – projecting no growth for this fiscal quarter over the same period last year and lowered revenue. Compaq also said it would cut 5,000 jobs in a consolidation of its consumer and commercial product groups.
The cuts come as a result of “continued overall weakness in the U.S. economy,” said Michael Capellas, Compaq chairman and CEO during a conference call. Though the consumer and business desktop PC market “has been hit the hardest,” server and small business sales have dropped off as well, Capellas said. He did note, however, that Compaq continues to do well in the storage and Unix markets.