Austin-based Dell Inc. announced plans to cut its sales staff worldwide as companies shift focus to new artificial intelligence products, the Austin American-Stateman reported recently.
It is unclear whether staff in Oklahoma City’s Dell Technologies facility will be affected. Dell opened the OKC facility at the intersection of Interstate 40 and Interstate 44 in 2005. The local office operates sales, customer service, and enterprise functions.
The American-Statesman reported Dell plans to lay off employees worldwide. Austin-area Dell employees on social media have estimated that up to 10,000 employees worldwide could be laid off, though the number has not been confirmed by Dell officials.
More: Dell announces layoffs, pivot to AI innovation as tech industry continues to scramble
“Through a reorganization of our go-to-market teams and an ongoing series of actions, we are becoming a leaner company. We are combining teams and prioritizing where we invest across the company,” Dell officials said in an email sent to The Oklahoman. “We continually evolve our business, so we’re set up to deliver the best innovation, value and service to our customers and partners.”
Dell in 2004 announced it would build the customer center in Oklahoma City, which competed against more than 100 sites for the Dell facility. The company opened a 120,000-square-foot facility at 3501 SW 15 in 2005. A year later, the center doubled in size when Dell built a second office building at the same site.
In 2022, Dell employed about 1,600 employees at the facility.
The facility sits within Oklahoma City’s tax increment finance district No. 5. The district was started in 2005 to help support redevelopment along the Oklahoma River and for the Dell employment center. The TIF district is set to expire in 2031.
Company-wide layoffs at Dell have impacted Oklahoma City staff members before in 2008 and in 2013, as reported in The Oklahoman.
Analysts estimated Dell’s revenue at $24.12 billion for the second quarter of this year with earnings per share of $1.69. Reports from this time last year showed $22.9 billion in revenue and $0.63 in EPS. Dell’s quarterly earnings report will be released on Aug. 29.
First-quarter reports for this year, posted in April, showed the company earned $22.24 billion in revenue, beating estimates by 2.73%, according to Google Finance.
