As Twitter hires, HP fires

 

With the attention given to Twitter's IPO, one might assume that the tech industry is dependent on its success. It isn't. Not even close.

For sure, Twitter's initial public offering in November made some people awfully rich -- the social networking company's market capitalization now ranges near $35 billion and its shares trade at around $65 apiece, more than double the share price of Hewlett-Packard stock.

At best, though, Twitter is likely to remain a mid-sized employer unless it buys a television network with its eventual cash.

Twitter, according to its IPO filing, has about 2,000 employees, and a long list of job openings. Perhaps, in time, it may equal Facebook's current workforce of 5,800.

As HP cuts, who is hiring?

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Apple	N/A	32,000	N/A	46,600	N/A	N/A	80,300
Facebook	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	2,958	4,331	5,794
Google	15,916	N/A	N/A	N/A	31,353	55,546	46,421
Hewlett-Packard	172,000	321,000	304,000	324,600	349,600	331,800	317,500
Microsoft	N/A	N/A	N/A	89,000	N/A	N/A	99,000
Salesforce	N/A	N/A	N/A	3,969	N/A	N/A	9,800
Twitter	N/A	N/A	N/A	200	N/A	N/A	2,000

Headcount data is from annual reports and represent global headcounts, unless otherwise noted. Few tech firms breakout domestic versus hiring overseas.

Apple data does not include 3,100 full-time equivalent workers in 2008, 2,800 in 2010 and 4,100 in 2013. About 42,800 of Apple 2013 employees work in the company's Retail segment. Google 2012 figures include 12,433 from Motorola Mobile and 4,995 from Motorola Home. Google Sold Motorola Home in 2012, reducing its overall headcount. HP 2008 figures include its EDS acquisition. Microsoft data includes 35,000 international in 2010 and 41,000 international in 2013. N/A added for sake of brevity.

The point of showing the Twitter and Facebook employment numbers is to create scale for HP's just announced layoff of 5,000 workers. Relative to HP's total workforce of 317,000, the cut amounts to just 1.5%, but compared to the amount of hiring now underway at Web-based firms, it's a significant hit totech employment overall.

The question now for HP is whether it can can adapt to overcome slowdowns in the PC, server and printer businesses and resume its revenue growth. If it succeeds at that, HP could add jobs by the thousands and at a speed that would take a Web-based firm years to achieve. On the other hand, it could also shed jobs by the thousands if it fails.

This latest HP layoff plan, detailed in a Security Exchange Commission filing last week, is on top of 29,000 job cuts previously announced by HP CEO Meg Whitman. HP doesn't breakout hiring/firing by region, so it's not known how many U.S. workers are affected.

HP's importance to employment goes well beyond its own payroll.

There are thousands of HP-related jobs at resellers, consulting and professional services firms. Many IT professionals have invested careers in HP-specific technologies certifications and training, and HP systems can be found in most Fortune 1000 firms.