Nokia To Cut 10,000 Jobs Worldwide
Finland-based cell phone manufacturer Nokia Thursday announced that it plans to cut 10,000 jobs globally as part of its revamping measures.
The company announced that it would shut down production and research sites in Finland, Germany and Canada.
In addition, it announced changes in its leadership team with executive vice-president and chief marketing officer Jerri DeVard, executive vice-president of mobile phones Mary McDowell and executive vice-president of markets Niklas Savander leaving the company.
The present announcement of job cuts will increase the total layoffs in Nokia after Stephen Elop took over as chief executive in 2010 to more than 40,000.
Nokia, which was the world’s largest vendor of mobile phones from 1998 to 2012, has seen its market share declining in the last five years. This has been mainly due to the intense competition it has been facing from Apple and Samsung.
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In April, it was reported that Samsung Electronics overtook Nokia to become the world’s largest maker of mobile phones. In the first quarter of 2012, Samsung shipped 93 million phones while Nokia could manage only 83 million devices. Nokia’s share price has slumped from $40 in 2007 to below $3 in 2012.
In order to regain the lost market share, Nokia announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft in 2011. Based on this collaboration, Nokia launched Lumia smartphones with Microsoft‘s Windows Phone operating system incorporated in them.
However, even this alliance could not help Nokia much in making headway in the competition from Samsung and Apple. When Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2012, Nokia could manage only two million Lumia smartphones. In the first quarter, the handset shipments from Nokia fell 24 percent.
The company is targeting to make a saving of 1.6 billion euros ($2 billion) by means of cost-cutting measures, including layoffs.
Shares of Nokia fell 10 percent to 2 euros Thursday.
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