But back to IBM. A curious paradox has emerged in this story. There have been apparently at least two versions of the so-called Pike’s Peak presentation laying out IBM’s personnel plans to meet its 2015 financial goals. Both versions date from last summer with one saying US head count will be cut 78 percent by the end of 2015 and the other saying head count for the USA and Canada will be cut by 85 percent in that time.

If both presentations are legit, what does this mean for IBM Canada?

It suggests to me that IBM intends to withdraw from Canada entirely, possibly serving Canadian customers remotely from the USA or maybe direct from India. I haven’t been told this. All I am doing is a calculation on the back of an envelope, but that’s the way the numbers look to me.

Maybe the Globe and Mail should pay attention.

IBM is at a tipping point. This week I’ve been told job offers from IBM are half of what they were last week as new policies start to take effect. IBMer after IBMer has reported to me draconian cuts that will make it very difficult (maybe impossible) for Big Blue to fulfill its contactual obligations in the event of a regional (multi-customer) crisis like an earthquake or hurricane.

Contradicting my first column in this series, even IBM workers on federal contracts including defense and national security accounts are being affected.

What the heck is going on here?

I have a theory, of course.

I think huge parts of IBM (especially Global Services) are being readied for sale. Fixating solely on the bottom line, IBM appears to be cutting every expense it can in order to goose earnings and make those divisions being put on the block look more valuable.

Are buyers really that stupid?

They probably are. All it takes is an auction environment with one snowed bidder to force the eventual buyer to knowingly pay more than the assets are worth.

It’s a clever tactic but if a disaster happens before such a sale can close, it will have been an experiment with terrible consequences for IBM customers.