How can Xerox survive a paper-free world?


Xerox has reported a 10% fall in quarterly revenue for its document technology business, as sales of its copiers and printers continue to fall.

They have now been in decline for close to half a decade, with that side of the business, its mainstay for more than half a century, is now worth $1.6 billion.

Overall, the Connecticut company suffered a 4.2% slump in revenue, also owing to a strong dollar.

Xerox also cut roughly 8,300 jobs during the first quarter. It continues to employ some 135,000 workers around the world.

Following the Monday announcement, shares in Xerox closed at $9.68; a 13% drop that represented their worst day since November 2009.

The company also expects to incur restructuring costs of approximately $100 million in this quarter as it faces an uncertain future.

As the world increasingly looks to decreasing its carbon footprint and becoming 'print-free' (or as close as it can get), Xerox confirmed in February that it would split into two companies.

One will continue to take care of legacy printer operations, but Xerox will primarily focus on its services business, offering business process and document outsourcing.

The split should cost $300 million for the entire year.

With developed countries going green in recent years, India has become an extremely important market for its printing business.

Billions of pages are printed in India every year, with the printing market growing 5-10% annually.

China also continues to present a big demand for photocopy machines.

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