IBM to is to lay off 5,000 of its employees based in the United States, according to a report in the Financial Times.

The lay-offs will have greatest impact in the company’s global services division – the world’s largest IT outsourcing organisation. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that ‘many’ of those jobs would be moved to India.

That the computing giant is planning to make 5% of its employees redundant must be particularly galling for IBM staff given its recent financial performance. While such stalwarts as Microsoft and HP have shown signs of distress, IBM’s most recent financial report revealed a profit hike of 13% to $12.3 billion.

The company is also in the running for two high-profile acquisitions. IBM’s purchase of Sun Microsystems appears likely to go ahead at this point, and it is also among the eight potential acquirers of troubled Indian IT provider Satyam. UPDATE – New reports today indicate that IBM is no longer in the running for the Satyam acquisition.