IBM (NYSE: IBM) calls a report that it’s cutting 100,000 jobs “ridiculous.”

However, the company, which still employs thousands of people in North Carolina, does confirm it is cutting jobs. But it’s also hiring.

“This rumor is ridiculous, and off by a factor of more than 10,” says IBM’s director of corporate communications Doug Shelton.

Shelton responded to an inquiry from WRAL TechWire about a widely reported story over the weekend that cited the 100,000 figure.

However, Shelton confirmed that IBM will be cutting jobs even as it is looking to fill thousands of openings.

“If anyone had checked information readily available from our public earnings statements, or had simply asked us, they would know this,” Shelton wrote.

“A blogger writing under an assumed name did neither and passed off irresponsible speculation as fact, not for the first time,” he added.

Shelton was referring to Robert Cringley, a contributor to Forbes.

“IBM has already announced the company would take a $600 million charge for restructuring,” Shelton added.

“The company also has about 15,000 job openings around the world for new skills in growth areas such as cloud, analytics, security, and social and mobile technologies.”

Not even the Alliance@IBM bought in to the Cringley report as WRAL TechWire reported earlier Monday. 

“Various members of the media are picking up on Robert Cringley’s assertion that 100,000 IBMers will lose their jobs next week in a massive reorg at IBM. The Alliance has no information that this is true and we are urging caution on reporting this number as fact,” wrote Lee Conrad, national coordinator of Alliance@IBM, said via email.

“But as you all know, anything can happen at IBM anymore and this is the time of year that IBM cuts jobs.”

Cringley has predicted huge IBM job losses in the past.

“Next Week’s Bloodbath At IBM Won’t Fix The Real Problem,” he wrote in his latest post.

“I’ve been hearing since before Christmas about Project Chrome, the code name for what has been touted to me as the biggest reorganization in IBM history. Well, Project Chrome is finally upon us, triggered I suppose by this week’s announcement of an 11th consecutive quarter of declining revenue for IBM. Project Chrome is bad news, not good. Customers and employees alike should expect the worst.

“To fix its business problems and speed up its “transformation,” next week about 26 percent of IBM’s employees will be getting phone calls from their managers. A few hours later a package will appear on their doorsteps with all the paperwork. Project Chrome will hit many of the worldwide services operations. The USA will be hit hard, but so will other locations. IBM’s contractors can expect regular furloughs in 2015. One in four IBMers reading this column will probably start looking for a new job next week. Those employees will all be gone by the end of February.”