Nokia cuts 3,500 jobs to save costs
Nokia (NASDAQ:NOK) said on Thursday that it intends to cut 3,500 jobs as it restructures its business for the second time this year, while the company continues to lose market share in a fiercely competitive smartphone sector.
The Finland-based phone maker said it will close a manufacturing site in Cluj, Romania, by the end of next year, which means about 2,200 people will be impacted.
Other planned changes in Nokia's location and commerce segment, which provides navigational and digital mapping and location platforms, will see a reduction of 1,300 jobs.
The layoffs add to the 7,000 worldwide job cuts, which Nokia reported in April.
With the new wave of cuts, Nokia plans to shrink its devices and services work force, which used to be 59,150 at the end of June, by about 18% through next year.
Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop said in a statement that "We are seeing solid progress against our strategy, and with these planned changes we will emerge as a more dynamic, nimble and efficient challenger."
"We must take painful, yet necessary, steps to align our workforce and operations with our path forward," Elop said.
The impetus for closing the Cluj manufacturing plant is because of Nokia's high-volume Asian factories provide greater scale and proximity benefits.
Additionally, Nokia said it is reviewing the long-term manufacturing operations in Finland, Hungary as well as Mexico.
These factories are expected to continue to play a key role in serving European and North American smartphone customers, but the plan is to gradually shift their focus to customer and market-specific software and sales package customization.
In other news, Nokia and Siemens (NYSE:SI) appointed Jesper Ovesen as Executive Chairman to the board of Nokia Siemens Networks.
Under this role, he will oversee the strategic direction of Nokia Siemens Networks as it seeks to build its position to become more independent.
Ovesen, 54, has held many senior management positions in leading European companies, and most recently served as CFO at Danish telecommunications group TDC during the company's restructuring process and initial public offering.
Nokia also said it and Siemens today will both provide 500 million euros (about $680 million) to Nokia Siemens Networks to further strengthen the company's financial position.
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