Hewlett-Packard said it would have to slash up to 16,000 more jobs in a major overhaul aimed at turning around the PC maker and relieving pressure on its profit margins.

HP's sprawling global operations employ over 250,000 people. When the company's restructuring was started three years ago, executives said 27,000 jobs would have to go, but that number rose to 34,000 last year.

Germany's powerful IG Metall industry union said Friday it was not yet clear which impact the planned layoffs would have on HP's German workforce of 9,000 employees. The US company only last year decided that its German facility in Rüsselsheim would have to be closed down, costing 1,100 jobs.

CEO Meg Whitman said the turnaround scheme remained on track, as HP continued to find areas to streamline across its broad portfolio, encompassing computing, networking, storage and software.

Light at the end of the tunnel?

"You do worry if there's a finality to this process," RBC analyst Amit Daryanani said in a statement. "Or is it an ongoing thing that may affect morale at the end of the day?"

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The Silicon Valley company is trying to reduce its reliance on PCs and move towards computing equipment and networking gear for enterprises, as part of a strategy aimed at returning to long-term growth.

Right now, that goal remains elusive, with the company posting a disappointing 1-percent drop in second-quarter revenues.

hg/nz (dpa, Reuters)