Nokia Loses Seven Thousand Employees

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Last updated April 12, 2019

Nokia is set to slash 7,000 jobs as part of a massive cost-cutting program.  The company, which is the biggest manufacturer of cell phones in the entire world, is set to reduce 12 per cent of its worldwide work force in a bid to cut costs by around 12 billion US dollars by the end of next year.  While the cost cutting had been announced previously, most analysts had predicted that between five or six thousand job losses would be the result, with the actual figure being even worse than had been feared.

Stephen Elop, the former executive at Microsoft who took over as the chief executive officer of Nokia in the September of last year, says the cuts are a necessary part of the reorganization of the company in preparation for its adoption of the Microsoft Windows Phone software, which will eventually entirely replace the Symbian operating system previously used in the old cell phones.  “With this new focus, we will face reductions in our work force,” Elop says.  “This is a difficult reality, and we are working closely with our employees and partners to identify long term reemployment programs.”

Around 4,000 of the jobs would be eliminated primarily in the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Finland, while 3,000 employees will be transferred to work for business global technology consultant company Accenture.

“This move was largely anticipated and follows Nokia’s need to reduce its cost structure,” claims FIM Bank analyst Michael Schroder.