COMPUTERS: The Elephant Tries to Dance

The Elephant Tries to Dance

To corporate customers, computers once meant IBM mainframes. But that has changed as high-powered workstations and personal computers from such companies as Compaq, Apple and Sun Microsystems have won over legions of business users. As a result, IBM's earnings have slipped from $6.6 billion in 1984 on total sales of $46 billion to an estimated $5.5 billion last year on total sales of $60 billion. In an attempt to cut its costs and become a more nimble competitor, IBM last week announced its fourth belt-tightening program in three years.

Big Blue plans to eliminate 10,000 jobs from its U.S. payroll of...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!