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JobCuts posts

Nokia slashes 1,700 jobs due to "pruned" demand

by Laura June posted Mar 17th 2009 @ 11:34AM

Finland-based Nokia has just announced that they will cut 1,700 jobs in the corporate development and global functions departments. These cuts will equal about 1 percent of Nokia's entire workforce, and are more than double in number than earlier reports suggested. The company says that the cuts are being driven by "pruned" worldwide demand for its products. Shares of its stock fell 2.6 percent in Helsinki trading after the announcement, while our hopes and dreams fell just 1 percent. Onward and upward, dear Nokia!

Vodafone to slash hundreds of jobs in Britain

by Darren Murph posted Feb 25th 2009 @ 4:23AM

Yet another company has succumbed to making tough choices in the face of a rough economy, as Vodafone is reportedly preparing to lay off "hundreds" of workers in Britain. The report stated that the cuts could come as soon as this week, and while there was no definite number given as to how many of its 10,000 employees would be asked to leave, we do know that the operator is aiming to "boost free cash flow by cutting one billion pounds of costs." Predictably, Voda declined to comment on the report, but it'll probably have to talk soon whether it wants to or not.

Motorola hacks a thousand from China-based R&D team

by Darren Murph posted Feb 13th 2009 @ 10:42AM

Details are starting to flow in regarding those 4,000 job cuts that Motorola announced in January, and evidently a thousand of 'em are coming from a single Chinese facility. According to the People's Daily Online, 1,000 Moto workers are being dismissed, and every last one of 'em are from the research and development team of the mobile phone department. We're told that the software platform project team suffered the most, and all told, there's just 100 staffers that remain at the plant. For whatever it's worth, Motorola has affirmed that its commitment to growth in the Chinese market remains the same -- apparently it thinks it can still succeed with far fewer heads doing the work.

[Via mocoNews]

Motorola hastens layoff plans, axes 400 earlier than anticipated

by Darren Murph posted Dec 31st 2008 @ 3:22PM

The words "job security" and "Motorola" haven't coexisted in a non-sarcastic manner for quite some time, and things just seem to be deteriorating by the day. Not even two full months after the flagging company announced that 3,000 employees would be sent packing, a new Reuters report has it that the axing process in Q4 will be accelerated. Specifically, some 1,900 (versus 1,500 as originally predicted) will be cut in an attempt to save $800 million in 2009, though there's no word on how damaging the inevitable productivity losses will be given the markedly low morale. To no one's surprise, most of the Q4 cuts will be in the mobile devices segment; we're beginning to think Sad Moto Face™ here will never, ever vanish.

[Via UnwiredView]

Palm axes an undisclosed amount of employees, sort of blames itself

by Darren Murph posted Nov 21st 2008 @ 7:13PM

My, my -- how's this for truth in advertising? Palm InfoCenter has confirmed with a Palm spokesperson that the flagging outfit will be laying off an undisclosed amount of employees as the economy worsens and the firm attempts to keep that final nail from being slammed down on its coffin. According to the spokesperson, the company will undergo a certain amount of restructuring (sound familiar?) that will "result in company reductions in the US and internationally." Incredulously, the statement also included this gem: "The global economic downturn continues to dampen demand for consumer goods around the world, and the impact on the economic environment is worsened by our maturing Centro line and the length of time it is taking to ramp our new Windows Mobile products." We won't say for sure that it's actually taking some of the blame here, but it sure sounds like it. Now, if only it would take charge of its future...

[Image courtesy of DayLife]

UIQ Technology puts entire staff on notice of dismissal

by Darren Murph posted Nov 7th 2008 @ 4:42PM

Ugh, this is just downright depressing no matter how you spin it. Sure, it's just the reality of business and all, but it's no fun to hear that 270 staffers will soon be looking for employment when UIQ Technology finishes climbing into the grave. After hacking 200 jobs in June and being coined "dead" by Sony Ericsson's Patrick Olson, All About Symbian has it that the company has put its remaining employees "on notice of dismissal." We're told that SE has agreed to "continue funding the company on a by month by month basis in order to allow it to investigate options for the future," but from the outside looking in, we'd say the outlook is bleak. Thankfully, it sounds like those affected will at least be assisted as they exit, but now would probably be an opportune time to shed a tear for UIQ as we knew it.

Motorola to layoff 3,000 employees, most of 'em in handset division

by Darren Murph posted Nov 2nd 2008 @ 7:20AM

To be honest, we were surprised that we didn't hear this number along with the other doom and gloom professed during Motorola's Q3 earnings call, but the writing was very clearly on the wall. As part of the mentioned $800 million expenditure cut planned for 2009, 3,000 (more) of Moto's employees will be looking for work elsewhere. According to an unnamed spokeswoman, a "little over two-thirds of those layoffs [will be] in the handset division." And just think -- if Moto would only use all those hands to get an Android-powered phone out before "entirely too long from now," maybe these cuts wouldn't even be necessary. Maybe.

Sony Ericsson laying off 450 employees in Research Triangle Park, NC

by Darren Murph posted Sep 29th 2008 @ 12:45PM

"Planned" and "executed" are two very different things, and while we knew Sony Ericsson was mulling the idea of hacking 2,000 jobs, the hammer has finally fallen in Research Triangle Park, NC. The company will soon be axing 450 employees at its North American headquarters as part of a large reorganization, with most everyone knowing by the week's end whether they'll stay or go. According to Aldo Ligouri, Sony Ericsson's head of global communications and public relations, the RTP cuts are "part of company-wide changes that Sony Ericsson announced in July," and in whatever context, he added that "this is our map of how we see things moving forward." Just to put things in perspective, the outfit only has about 750 workers in the North Carolina-based facility, which is primarily seen as an R&D hub. Tough news to hear, no matter how you spin it.

[Image courtesy of Flickr]

Nokia to pay German state ?1.3 million to settle Bochum dispute

by Darren Murph posted Jul 28th 2008 @ 10:24AM

Germany wanted $6.2 million in research subsidies back from Nokia, and in addition to the "tens of millions" that the company has already relinquished after the highly-disputed Bochum plant closing, it'll be coughing up another €1.3 million ($2.04 million) to hopefully close the door on the matter. Said payment will be addressed to North Rhine-Westphalia, which was quite angry after the handset maker decided to hack 2,300 jobs from Germany and relocate operations to Romania for "lower labor costs." The sum here is in addition to the €20 million "Growth for Bochum" foundation that the outfit started, but apparently that show of goodwill didn't really change the hearts of those already bitter.

[Via PhoneScoop, image courtesy of Reuters]

Samsung 'restructuring' handset division, hints at Armani partnership

by Darren Murph posted Aug 3rd 2007 @ 5:15PM

In the wake of increased competition from Motorola and Nokia in particular, Samsung is reportedly "restructuring its handset division," which will aim to find "new sources of revenue, realigning businesses, and cut costs." As expected, the move will also involve a number of "personnel reshuffles," but a Samsung spokesman was quoted as saying that there won't be any "forceful" job cuts. Interestingly, we're hearing further details that the firm is indeed courting the idea of partnering with "luxury name brands such as Italian fashion house Armani to develop premium brand phones," and considering just how hot avant-garde mobiles have been of late, we certainly don't think that's a bad idea.

[Via JustAMP]

Palm axes some jobs

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 26th 2007 @ 7:18PM

In the wake of Palm's sale of a quarter stake to Elevation Partners, the company is axing an unspecified number of jobs in an effort to flatten its "organizational hierarchy." Though it wouldn't specify how many jobs were getting cut, they're apparently in the development group (from a casual observer's perspective, development seems like the wrong place to cut jobs when your best-selling products are mildly tweaked versions of years-old designs, but we're just bloggers -- what do we know?). For what it's worth, Palm points out that the cuts are just the final stages of a reorganization that's been in the works for some time now and predates the Elevation deal. No faith that you're gonna need engineers around for a Foleo 2, guys?

[Via the::unwired]

Motorola cuts another 4,000 jobs

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 4th 2007 @ 10:06AM

Recognizing that its first round of 3,500 job cuts wasn't enough to bring it back into the black, Moto has announced -- as expected -- a second round of layoffs to the tune of 4,000 axed positions. Ultimately, the company expects to save $600 million from the new cuts after they've been bunched in with "prioritization of investments, continuing discretionary-spending controls, general and administrative expenses and site rationalization" (whether any of that verbage actually means anything, we don't know, but it certainly sounds frugal). For the record, the first 3,500 cuts are apparently on track to be completed by June 30, but with newly-announced "restructuring charges" totalling $300 million, it's anybody's guess whether these moves are ultimately going to make America's only top five manufacturer profitable again.