Nokia Plans to Slash 1,700 Jobs Amid Sluggish Sales of Cellphones

By KEVIN J. O’BRIEN
The New York Times
Published: March 17, 2009

Nokia, the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, said Tuesday that it planned to eliminate 1,700 jobs, roughly 3 percent of its work force, as demand for phones continued to sag.

The company, which is based in Espoo, Finland, said 700 workers would be laid off in Finland and the rest elsewhere in Europe, Asia and North America. The layoffs are to take place in Nokia’s devices and markets divisions, which produce, market and sell mobile phones, and in a unit responsible for long-term corporate strategy.

The job cuts, the biggest at Nokia since the economic downturn began last year, are part of the company’s plan to trim its annual operating expenses by 700 million euros ($907 million), by the end of 2010. That would be about 11 percent of the total expenses.

Nokia announced the austerity measures on Jan. 22 as the company revealed plans to freeze salaries, hiring and nonessential travel and to offer severance packages to as many as 1,000 employees.

In another cost-cutting move, the company stopped designing phones for the Japanese market.



SW