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Layoffs coming as Symantec reboots: CEO

This is one patch implementation that many Symantec Corp. staffers are not likely to relish.

In a presentation before Walls Street analysts on Thursday, Symantec CEO Steve Bennett announced layoffs in the company were imminent as it embarks on a reorganization intended to cut cost, re-align business focus and cut market losses.

A report from Networkworld.com quoted him as saying: “our system in just broken.”

Bennett who took over the helm of Symantec from Enrique Salem last July, said that the company’s sales and marketing teams “high cost but didn’t provide quality outcomes.”

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Within the next six to nine months, Symantec will implement changes that will see a new focus on e-commerce and telesales. The company will also pursue vertical markets and product more customized products and services for small businesses.

Rather than acquire companies, Bennett said, Symantec will concentrate on internal research and development.

Symantec will turn the spotlight on 10 core areas:

-Mobile workforce productivity
-Norton Protection
-Norton Cloud
-Information Security Services
-Identity/Content Aware Security Gateway
-Data Centre Security
-Business Continuity
-Integrated Backup
-Cloud-based Information Management
-Object Storage Platform

A day earlier, the security software and service company also assuaged shareholders my making an announcement that Symantec has a capital allocation strategy that is expected to return approximately 50 per cent of free cash flow to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases.

The board of directors, said James Beer, executive vice-president and chief financial officer,  authorized a US$1 billion share repurchase program commencing in the company’s fiscal year 2014, which begins on March 30, 2013, in addition to the remaining $283 million in the current board authorized stock repurchase plan.

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