[Section of the article concerning IBM excerpted below].
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article302379724.html
By: Brian Gordon
Updated March 21, 2025 1:04 PM
IBM updates on 2025 layoffs
A reader emailed mentioning layoffs this week at IBM, one of the biggest and oldest employers in Research Triangle Park. There are also dozens of recent IBM layoff postings on the anonymous messaging website TheLayoff.com, at least three of which purported to be from impacted workers at the company’s RTP office.
During its January earnings call, IBM told investors it would implement a “workforce rebalancing” in 2025, similar to the one it made last year that the company says affected a low single-digits percentage of its global staff.
“This rebalancing is driven by increases in productivity and our continued push to align our workforce with the skills most in-demand among our clients,” IBM spokesperson Sarah Minkel said in an email Wednesday. “Especially in areas such as AI and hybrid cloud.”
IBM declined to share how many workers it employs in the Triangle or how many local employees are impacted by this year’s “rebalancing.” According to state data, IBM has gone from Durham County’s No. 2 largest employer in 2016 to No. 7 today.
Worldwide, IBM began 2025 with 270,300 employees, including at subsidiaries like the Raleigh software provider Red Hat, which marked a 4% decrease from the previous year.