Xerox runs off pink slips

"Today's difficult economic challenges require difficult decisions," said Anne Mulcahy, Xerox chairman and chief executive

The cuts will be made through a combination of layoffs and voluntary redundancies.

Programs to cut staff in the US and Canada began two weeks ago, Xerox said. Staff reductions in Europe and other markets will be dependent on union negotiations and government policies, the company said.

In July, Xerox restated five years worth of results, reclassifying revenues to the tune of $US6 billion and shifting US$2 billion worth of past revenue to future accounts.

Xerox issued the 1000 page restatement as part of a settlement hammered out with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission in April. The settlement also saw the company stung with a US$10 million fine, despite the fact that it neither denied nor admitted to the charges of inflating results and defrauding investors.