The Journal News does a wrap-up of news from 2005 around their region of coverage, and includes some comments on IBM.

Repositioning IBM

Armonk-based IBM Corp.’s efforts to remake itself continued throughout the year as the company turned over its business of making personal computers, a business the company helped invent in 1981. In May, IBM closed on the sale of its PC business to China-based Lenovo for $1.25 billion and took a minority stake in the company. The company also announced plans to cut 10,000 to 13,000 jobs, primarily in Europe, as the technology giant sought to improve profits. The plan came after IBM’s first-quarter earnings fell short of analysts’ expectations and its stock fell almost 14 percent in the days following the report. Slipping revenues were blamed for the problem. For the first three quarters of 2005, IBM posted higher profits on lower revenue compared to the similar period in 2004. Profits of $4.75 billion were up about 2 percent, while revenues of $66.7 billion were down about 2.8 percent. Though the company cut jobs in some markets, it continued to add others as it picked up new employees through contracts it won to take over the computing operations of numerous other businesses.

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