Adobe Systems to axe almost 700 jobs

In an attempt to cut costs, US software company Adobe Systems is to axe 680 jobs worldwide - the equivalent of 9% of its workforce.

The software company, which is known for Photoshop, Flash and Acrobat, said the restructure is necessary in order to reduce costs.

As a direct result of the cuts, Adobe said it would be hit with pre-tax restructuring charges of between $65 million and $71 million.

Adobe, which has a global workforce of 7,000, announced a series of job losses last December when it said it would eliminate 600 jobs globally.

The company said the recession had been causing slow sales of its Creative Suite 4 software, which was launched last October.

In September, the company posted quarter three profits of $136 million, down from $191.6 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue also plummeted to $697.5 million, compared with $887.3 million.

The news comes just a day after Swedish telecoms equipment maker, Ericsson, said it would eliminate 700 jobs from its research and development operation in Coventry.

Furthermore, Vodafone said it was seeking to increase its £1 billion cost-cutting programme by a further £1 billion by 2012 as a result of a sharp decline in revenues from its core UK market and hinted that there would be redundancies.

Also yesterday, Lloyds Banking Group said it would shed 5,000 jobs, bringing its total to 12,500 this year.

Finally, US video game maker Electronic Arts (EA) is to embark on a further cost-cutting exercise as the market for videogames remains weak.

The company, famous for its Rock Band and Madden videogame franchises, is to eliminate 1,500 jobs by the end of March (around 17% of its workforce) and the job losses are in addition to the 1,100 jobs already shed this year.

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