EMC Profits Down , Way Down

EMC Corporation today reported financial results for the second quarter of 2001.

According to the company, total consolidated revenue for the second quarter was $2.02 billion, 6% lower than the $2.15 billion recorded in the second quarter of 2000. Net income for the quarter dropped to $109 million from $429 million in the second quarter of 2000.

Mike Ruettgers, EMC Executive Chairman, said, “The global economic environment has become much tougher. I cannot recall a more difficult environment in terms of technology spending than the one that has unfolded over the past few months. It is now expected that IT spending may shrink on a year-to-year basis for the first time in decades. More than 800 companies have made pre-announcements that the spring quarter would be below expectations. By and large, these are our customers. We are working with them to build information infrastructures that deliver the highest value and greatest business impact over both the short and long term.”

Joe Tucci, EMC President and CEO, said, “Weakness in capital spending is taking a big bite out of IT budgets in a number of industries around the world. Delayed purchases and cancelled projects were the largest factors preventing us from hitting our revenue goals for the second quarter, and the revenue shortfall led directly to lower margins. As expected, EMC’s strongest growth is coming from the areas that deliver the greatest impact to customers: networked information storage and information storage software. The growth drivers we identified at the beginning of the year are bearing fruit, and they represent the brightest future for EMC.”