EMC half the company it used to be

Storage giant EMC has reported disastrous third quarter results, missing Wall Street expectations and showing revenues almost halved from the same period last year.

EMC reported a loss of more than $945m, compared to a profit of $458m this time last year. It lost 43 cents a share, with pundits expecting losses of just 3-5 cents a share. This is EMC's first reported loss for over ten years.

Even discounting a one-off charge of $719m for restructuring, the loss per share was still 12 cents.

Revenues are just $1.2bn, down by 47 per cent from $2.3bn last year.

It is not clear whether the poor results will mean more job losses for the one-time investor's darling. In a statement to the New York Stock Exchange, president and CEO Joe Tucci said the company had made good progress in cutting costs, but that it was not enough in the current environment: " We expect that our expanded cost cutting will yield ongoing annual cost savings of about $800m by the middle of next year."

EMC blamed the poor results on worsening economic conditions and customers being affected by the 11 September terrorist attacks. However, it made an explicit claim that the terror attacks in the long-term will only serve to heighten the need for storage, as firms realised the importance of full disaster recovery contingencies.

Shortly after the events EMC axed 2,400 staff, or 10 per cent of its workforce. This week EMC has been the subject of speculation that the one time industry leader may be the subject of a takeover, possibly by IBM.