Finnish-based mobile phone maker Nokia Thursday
said it planned to cut 10,000 jobs by the end of 2013, of which about
40 percent would be in Finland.
The share price was down 13 percent in late afternoon trading on
the Helsinki bourse.
"These planned reductions are a difficult consequence of the
intended actions we believe we must take to ensure Nokia's long-term
competitive strength," said chief executive Stephen Elop.
Elop later told reporters the group planned to keep its
headquarters in Espoo, Finland, noting that two thirds of the
development on Nokia's Lumia smartphones was in Finland.
Of the job cuts, 3,700 jobs were to disappear from Finland,
including 850 when the production plant in Salo closes.
Nokia's announcement was discussed by the government, which said
it would consider measures to ease the effect of the job losses.
"We will try and work with Nokia," Jyri Hakamies, minister of
economics told Finnish radio news YLE.
Nokia is trying to regain its former dominant role in the high-end
mobile phone sector, and a year ago signed an agreement with software
company Microsoft to use its Windows operating system.
The group Thursday also lowered its outlook for the second
quarter, citing lower-than-expected sales of its smartphones.
Nokia said it planned further cost cutting measures worth 1.6
billion euros (2 billion dollars) by the end of 2013. As of the first
quarter this year, Nokia said it had cut costs by 700 million euros.
The group was to sell its luxury mobile phones business Vertu to
European private equity firm EQT VI, but did not offer financial
details.
Chief marketing officer Jerri DeVard, vice president of the mobile
phones division Mary McDowell, and vice president of markets Niklas
Savander, were to leave the company, Nokia said.
Nokia had close to 125,000 employees including the joint venture
Nokia Siemens at the end of March.
