Nokia’s (News - Alert) continued plan of laying off workers and downsizing their operation appears to have quite a few more victims on the chopping block before it’s all said and done.
Nokia has laid off workers all over the world in a desperate attempt to stay afloat, all while they continue to churnoutproduct, mostly for a wide variety of smartphones. The newest reports say the company plans to cut a startling 10,000 more jobs worldwide, and is expected to close several more plants, all by the end of 2013.
The European tech company previously agreed to layoffs in Germany,engineered between the company and that country’s labor unions. The plan was expected to be a way for those employees to have a softer landing, and a better chance of coming back to work should the situation improve.
Nokia is shuttering some research plants in Ulm, Germany (one of the spots where the agreed upon layoffs are taking place) and in Canada. The goals are for the company to cut costs and streamline the company to jumpstart revenues. Nokia also said it would close down its manufacturing plant in Finland, but keep its local research and development laboratory open.
"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 Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. "We are increasing our focus on the products and services that our consumers value most while continuing to invest in the innovation that has always defined Nokia."
In further evidence that the company is working hard to pare down its responsibilites, Nokia announced it sold off ownership of its luxury smartphone line, Vertu, to private equity firm EQT VI.
Nokia announced in April it was posting one of its worst set of quarterly numbers ever – a €929-million net loss, which reportedly came from competition in the smartphone sector from giants like Apple (News - Alert).