IBM was once (not so long ago) one of the largest computer chip manufacturers in the world. Before Apple made the move to Intel chips, IBM was part of the alliance (along with Apple and Motorola) that produced the biggest competitor to Intel’s x86 architecture, the PowerPC.
Amazing to me that IBM’s chip business has fallen so far. They can’t just shut it down, though, as they are still very dependent on their self-produced Power chips. The deal gives IBM access to the chips for 10 more years, but the buyers get the engineering talent.
What does it mean “they will take a pre-tax charge of 4.7bn for the third quarter?”
When the third quarter of IBM’s fiscal year rolls around, they’ll take $4.7 billion out of their income/profits, before taxes, to pay for the sale and the loss of the business unit.
It’s fancy bookkeeping to limit their taxes, cram everything into one bad quarter, and pretend nothing ever happened by the fourth quarter.
What does IBM have left? Are they back to just mainframes again now?