Chicago (IL) - Sun Microsystems confirmed yesterday it will cut 1,500 more jobs this week. The announcement was not unexpected since previous layoffs as part of broader restructuring efforts had already resulted in 1,300 job cuts in January. A financial analyst company, Wedge Partners, claims that up to 50 percent of Sun's customer staff may be affected with layoffs, thus reducing Sun's ability to directly sell its products and creating an increased reliance on channel partners.

Sun did not provide an exact break-down of imminent layoffs, but said the actual proportion is significantly lower, adding that layoffs will affect all positions -- including higher-ranked managerial teams. "Sun continues to make important choices to streamline operations and align resources to best address market opportunity and position the company for improved financial performance and long-term growth," the company wrote in an email.

Sun first revealed plans to shed up to 18 percent of its workforce -- up to 6,000 employees -- last November. Back then, the company said the purpose of a nearly one-fifth reduction in staff was to reduce annual costs by between $700 million and $800 million. The company may be also trying to improve its bottom line ahead of the rumored IBM acquisition. As we previously reported (Sun is beaming from IBM attention), the company's stock value soared following IBM's alleged $6.5 billion premium acquisition offer.

Sun makes a whole lot of sense for IBM, and the acquisition may solve a lot of IBM's problems since the two companies have complementary (if not overlapping) businesses. IBM is allegedly deep-scanning Sun's contracts and business metrics before the acquisition is green-lighted. Neither company has confirmed acquisition talks. Sun's fiscal Q3 ended today and financial results will be published April 28.

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