EMC to slash expenses after weak Q1

EMC, a provider of information infrastructure solutions, saw revenues and net income slip in the first quarter of 2009, and has announced plans to take cost reduction actions to reduce its information infrastructure costs by almost $450 million.

For the quarter, EMC reported its first-quarter 2009 GAAP net income was $194.1 million, compared with $251.6 million for the first quarter of 2008.

The Hopkinton, Mass.-based company booked first quarter 2009 revenue of $3.15 billion, representing a decline of 9.2 percent compared with the year-ago period. In the first quarter, EMC generated operating cash flow of $864 million and free cash flow of $681 million, all contributing to a cash and investments total of $9.8 billion.

"We are taking additional near-term cost reduction actions that will save EMC an additional $100 million in 2009. We now expect to reduce EMC's 2009 Information Infrastructure costs by approximately $450 million from our 2008 spend, increasing to approximately $500 million in 2010," said David Goulden, EMC's executive vice president and chief financial officer.

"As we look to the balance of 2009, we believe the global IT spending environment has reached--or is very near--the bottom. We expect IT spending to improve in the second half of 2009 as customers will have better budget visibility, be further through their own restructuring programs and broader stimulus packages should be underway," Joe Tucci, EMC's chairman, president and CEO.

EMC also predicted that second quarter 2009 global IT spending will probably be flat compared with the first quarter of 2009, and the second half of 2009 will be stronger than the first half of the year.