IBM to Cut Thousands of Roles in Focus on Software Growth

International Business Machines Corp. will cut thousands of workers this quarter while it continues to shift the focus of its business to higher-growth software and services.

“We routinely review our workforce through this lens and at times rebalance accordingly,” a company spokesperson said. “In the fourth quarter we are executing an action that will impact a low single-digit percentage of our global workforce.”

IBM shares have climbed this year on investor enthusiasm for the software business, which is fueled by acquired divisions Red Hat and HashiCorp. Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna has pushed the unit to become IBM’s largest business, ...