Adobe to layoff 750 jobs, focus on digital media

NEW YORK, USA: Adobe Systems Inc plans to lay off 750 positions and take a charge of up to $94 million as part of a restructuring to re-focus the company on digital media and marketing.

Shares in the design software maker, which is updating its suite of products to keep pace with new trends and moving to support the increasingly popular HTML5 programming language, fell almost 7 percent in after-hours trade.

Also read: Adobe adds HTML5 capabilities to Creative Suite

Adobe said in a statement on Tuesday it expects to record pre-tax charges of $87 million to $94 million for consolidation and severance, of which $73 million to $78 million would be booked in the fiscal quarter ending Dec. 2.

Also read: Adobe updates developer tools to build Android apps

Adobe said it was sticking with previous estimates for the fourth quarter for both revenue and earnings excluding items.

In September, Adobe projected revenue of $1.075 billion to $1.125 billion, and earnings excluding items of 57 cents to 64 cents a share, on a non-GAAP basis.

Shares in Adobe slid to $28.30 in extended trading, from a close of $30.42 on the Nasdaq.