Days after announcing plans to sell a stake in the company to a venture capital firm, handheld maker Palm cut an unspecified number of jobs on Thursday, CNET News.com has learned. Workers were still in the process of being notified of the cuts Thursday afternoon. Some cuts are being made immediately, while others will take longer to implement, said Palm spokesman Jim Christensen. "It's a small percentage of our work force," Christensen told News.com, adding that Palm still has openings in some areas.

The bulk of the jobs being eliminated are in the U.S. and in Palm's development ranks, though there are some cuts across the company, he said. Christensen said the move was "not about cost-cutting" but rather about "eliminating some of the hierarchy" at the company.

The move comes less than two weeks after the company announced its plans to sell a stake in the company to Elevation Partners.

Cheers ~ Arne