Akamai slashes 7% of its workforce

Akamai said this week it will be laying off 100 workers, or roughly 7% of its global workforce, in an effort to reduce its operating costs. Akamai CFO J.D. Sherman said the layoffs were being done to "ensure that we can keep investing for growth even in the current economic climate."

The layoffs are the latest in a stream of IT workforce cutbacks announced in recent weeks. 

As for Akamai, the Cambridge, Mass.-based content-delivery-network services provider had reported net income of $33.4 million for Q3 2008, which was 37% more than the $24.3 million in earnings the company had reported in Q3 2007. Additionally, the company generated revenue of $197.3 million in Q3 2008, a 22% increase from the $161.2 million in revenue it generated in Q3 2007. 

However, the company said during its earnings report that it expected fourth-quarter revenue to total $202 million to $210 million, which is slightly lower than the $212 million that Wall Street analysts had projected.

CEO Paul Sagan said at the time the company's estimate represented a cautious attitude toward lowered consumer confidence, as well as the company's uncertainty about sales in the e-commerce market. Sherman said this week that the Akamai layoffs are consistent with the company's previous outlook on Q4 2008 and that the Akamai had "not changed our business outlook."