SCO cuts staff ahead of sale to Caldera

SCO has announced that it will lay off 190 employees, or 19 per cent of its workforce, as part of preparations for the sale of most of its business to Caldera Systems.

SCO did not specify where the job cuts would occur, but said it would incur a one-time charge of between $5m and $6m in the quarter ending 30 September as a result of the layoffs.

In August SCO agreed to sell its Unix server software, which consists of Unixware and OpenServer, along with its existing reseller partnerships and contracts, and professional services divisions to Caldera. SCO will retain its Tarantella server-based computing software division after the merger, and plans to change the name of the company to Tarantella.

Doug Michels, chief executive of SCO, said: "To be successful we have to make some tough decisions. This reduction will lower expenses to better reflect SCO's recent performance in our server software and professional services divisions.

"Moreover, we have worked with Caldera to ensure that these actions produce staffing results consistent with its future, post-acquisition business model."