An "Employee Information Package" sent to IBM employees reportedly gives 2,850 as the approximate number of pink slips, in a round of job cuts originally confirmed by Betanews. On an IBM employee union Web site last week, IBM staff posted entries stating that layoffs were already happening in IBM software and distribution divisions in the US and Canada, and estimating the loss at 16,000 jobs.

Last Thursday, Betanews received and reported the first word from IBM that reductions in force were indeed under way. An IBM spokesperson told Betanews that some job layoff notifications had been sent, although he wouldn't comment on the number of layoffs.

Earlier today, The Wall Street Journal pinpointed the number of IBM job cuts at about 2,850, after reviewing copies of an Employee Information Package listing workers chosen to participate in IBM's "current resource reduction action" by job title and age, but without names attached. The layoffs include about 839 of IBM's 9,784 software engineers and, in the sales group, 20 marketing managers and nine employees with vice presidential titles.