If true, this could be the biggest corporate layoff the world has ever seen. According to a report, IBM is planning to fire over 1 lakh employees -- 1,11,800 to be precise -- as part of the restructuring. Currently, the company has over 4,30,000 employees. This means as part of the restructuring, it is asking nearly 26 per cent of its workforce to leave.

"To fix its business problems and speed up its 'transformation,' next week about 26 per cent of IBM's employees will be getting phone calls from their managers. A few hours later a package will appear on their doorsteps with all the paperwork," Robert X Cringley, a veteran tech journalist, wrote on a blog at Forbes.com.

According to Cringley, the whole layoff event is called Project Chrome. "It will hit many of the worldwide services operations. The USA will be hit hard, but so will other locations. One in four IBMers reading this column will probably start looking for a new job next week. Those employees will all be gone by the end of February," he wrote.

Though overall IBM has done well, especially after it spun off its personal computer division around 10 years ago by selling it to Lenovo. But in last few years, the performance has not been so good. In the last three years, the company's revenue has seen a decline in most of the quarters. In fact, it the last 11 quarters the company's revenue has declined.

Just a few days ago, IBM released its performance figures for the fourth quarter of 2014.

"Fourth-quarter net income from continuing operations was $5.5 billion compared with $6.2 billion in the fourth-quarter of 2013, a decrease of 11 per cent. Operating net income from continuing operations was $5.8 billion, as compared with $6.6 billion in the fourth-quarter of 2013, a decrease of 13 per cent," said the company.

In a statement CEO Ginni Rometty said that the focus was on transformation.

"We are making significant progress in our transformation, continuing to shift IBM's business to higher value, and investing and positioning ourselves for the longer term," she said in the press note issued by IBM announcing its quarterly results.

