Lexmark International plans to lay off 1700 people and exit the inkjet printer business as part of a major restructuring.
The company said it will continue to service and support its existing inkjet customer base.
"Today's announcement represents difficult decisions, which are necessary to drive improved profitability and significant savings," said Paul Rooke, Lexmark CEO, in a statement.
"Our investments are focused on higher-value imaging and software solutions, and we believe the synergies between imaging and the emerging software elements of our business will continue to drive growth across the organisation."
The closing of the inkjet business includes the shutdown of a manufacturing plant in the Phillippines by the end of 2015. Among the 1700 jobs being lost are about 1100 manufacturing jobs, according to the company.
Lexmark said it expects to save about $US85 million by the end of 2013 and reach $US95 million in savings by 2015.
Lexmark has been one of the poorer-performing tech stocks of 2012. The company's shares are down more than 40 percent since the beginning of the year to $US19.01.
Last fall, Lexmark executives said the company was transforming and focusing more on software integration, enterprise content management and business content management.
This article originally appeared at crn.com
Issue: 315 | May 2013
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