Nokia to Cut Thousands of Jobs Globally
April 06 2016 - 11:40AM
Dow Jones News
LONDON—Nokia Oyj is cutting thousands of jobs globally,
including nearly one in five posts in its Finnish homeland, as part
of a $1 billion cost-saving plan following its acquisition of
French rival Alcatel-Lucent SA.
The tech firm said Wednesday it had started talks with labor
unions as it looks to shed 1,300 jobs from its Finnish bases in
Espoo, Oulu and Tampere—the latest in a long line of cuts at the
former global mobile phone giant, which has been trying to
refashion itself into a leading maker of wireless and Internet
equipment.
Nokia currently has 6,850 employees in Finland who make up part
of its 104,000-strong global workforce.
"This was a match between France and Finland, Finland lost,"
said Pertti Porokari, president of the Union of Professional
Engineers in Finland. "The French government had the goal to
protect French jobs and they did so. If you look at the final
result of this match, the Finnish government was just standing
calmly on the sidelines."
In France, Nokia will only cut 400 positions by 2018 and will
recruit 500 workers in research and development, in line with
promises made to the French government to maintain 4,200 employees
in the country for two years after the Alcatel-Lucent
acquisition.
"At first sight, the announcement corresponds to Nokia
commitments," French white-collar union CFE CGC said in a
statement.
In Germany, Nokia plans to lose 1,400 of its 4,800 staff in the
country.
The company didn't disclose the total number of jobs that would
go world-wide.
"Reductions will come largely in areas where there are overlaps,
[between the newly-merged companies] such as research and
development, regional and sales organizations as well as corporate
functions," it said in a statement.
Nokia shareholders approved the €15.6 billion ($17.76 billion)
acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent in December. The two companies
started working as an operationally combined group on Jan. 14.
Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 06, 2016 11:25 ET (15:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Nokia (NYSE:NOK)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
Nokia (NYSE:NOK)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024