IBM decided to slash jobs in marketing and communications

IBM Chief Communications Officer Jonathan Adashek led the meeting, according to a person with knowledge of the matter

On Tuesday, IBM informed employees within its marketing and communications division about impending staff reductions, according to an individual familiar with the situation. Jonathan Adashek, IBM’s chief communications officer, delivered the news during a brief meeting with unit staff, as reported by the undisclosed source. In December, IBM's CEO, Arvind Krishna, mentioned plans to significantly enhance employee skills in AI following the announcement last August to replace approximately 8,000 positions with AI technology. In January of the previous year, IBM disclosed a reduction of 3,900 positions during its earnings call.

IBM disclosed during its fourth-quarter earnings earlier this year that it anticipated a workforce rebalancing charge, representing a minor percentage of its global workforce. The company stated to CNBC that it expects to end 2024 with employment levels similar to those at the beginning of the year. The recent staff cuts align with a broader trend of downsizing in the tech sector. Layoffs. FYI reported that approximately 204 tech companies have collectively cut around 50,000 jobs so far this year, with January witnessing the highest number of layoffs since March. IBM has been striving to position itself within the AI landscape, a dominant narrative in the tech industry, since the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in late 2022. In May, the company unveiled WatsonX, described as a development studio for enterprises to train, refine, and deploy machine-learning models.