Let's look at the facts guys. The announced layoffs in Feb of 6400 are just scratching the surface. That was less than 10% of the company workforce. Meanwhile oil has dropped more than 50%, natural gas remains stubbornly low in the US and could crash further with a cool summer, our customers are cutting CAPEX by 40 to 60% from last year, rig counts in the US are about to surpass a 50% drop from the peak.
There is going to be massive reductions due to the drop in activity, easily could be 25% total by end of Q2. That would be 20,000 if the workforce is 80,000 as of last year. If your throw in redundant people due to the merger, that could be another 5,000 or so people. Then, there are going to be lots of divisions sold off as well, let's just say that's around 10,000 or so.
The result? If you were working at HAL in 2014, there is only a 50/50 chance you will be there in the beginning of 2016. The only thing that could change this would be a huge recovery in oil prices, and that doesn't look likely. The Wizard has spoken.