Adobe to Cut 8% of Workforce

Adobe Systems announced it is cutting 600 employees, or about eight percent of its workforce, as the company tries to restructure during a weakening global economy.  The job cuts will be spread through offices across the world.

“The global economic crisis significantly impacted our revenue,” said Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen.  “We have taken action to reduce our operating costs and fine-tune the focus of our resources on key strategic priorities.”

Narayen said his company is facing something the whole world is experiencing.

The job cuts are because of the slumping economy and slowing demand for its software products.  Adobe blamed “weaker-than-expected demand” for Creative Suite 4 as the main culprit behind struggling software sales.

CS4 was originally promoted as Adobe’s biggest product introduction ever, although sales numbers indicate that obviously isn’t the case.

Adobe predicted its fourth-quarter revenue to be $925 million to $955 million, but it’s likely to range from $912 million to $915 million, according to the company.  In a previous quarter, Adobe forecast revenue of $800 million to $850 million, which is much lower than the predicted analyst numbers from $846 million up to $1.02 billion.

The company’s earnings per share are between 45 cents and 46, up from 38 cents at the same time per year.  Despite the drop in revenue, the earnings per share are higher because Adobe has been cutting costs. Adobe will offer more details about the job cuts and restructuring during an earnings conference call on Dec. 16.

Adobe joins the likes of Sun Microsystems, Yahoo, eBay and Applied Materials, which have all been forced to announce layoffs because of the economy.