Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    LOS ANGELES, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. computer service provider Sun Microsystems said Friday it will lay off up to 6,000 workers, about 15 percent of its global workforce, as the latest of a series of layoff decisions announced by high-tech companies amid the gloomy economic outlook.

    "We're taking sharp, decisive action to align ourselves to a new economic reality, and also to amplify our investment in the way the world is heading," said chief executive officer Jonathan Schwartz.

    Sun Microsystems also said it will reorganize its software business and merge some divisions into other operations. The Silicon Valley computer server and software maker has been struggling with declining sales and a plunging stock price.

    Schwartz said his company will move resources toward fast-growing parts of the world and reduce resources in areas where the company sees the economy contract, but declined to specify which business units or geographic areas will be affected by the layoff.

    Sun Microsystems was hit especially hard by the recent stock market crash and credit crunch, as financial institutions and banks have been major customers for the company's high-end servers and storage systems. Its own stock price closed at 4.08 dollars a share Thursday, down from a high of 21.55 dollars a share earlier this year.