Nokia lays off 14,000 employees due to 20 percent lower revenue
In order to mitigate the effects of a not-so-small drop in revenue for two consecutive quarters, Finnish telecommunications equipment company Nokia is laying off 14,000 employees, which is actually over 15 percent of its entire workforce. The company reported a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) sales decline of as much as 20 percent.
Sales of 5G equipment have fallen by 40 percent in North America, and other major markets have also passed their growth peaks, the company's CEO claims. The layoffs should allow Nokia to save 400 million euros by the end of 2024 and another 300 million in 2025, the company estimates.
The American company Qualcomm also found itself in similar problems, and for the same reason announced layoffs.
The United States is one of Nokia's biggest markets and its equipment supplier partner Ericsson. These companies expect a seasonal improvement in the next quarter, but general uncertainty will continue throughout 2024.
Peka Lundmark, president and CEO of Nokia, said in an interview with Reuters that the company still believes in the mid- and long-term market, but that it “simply does not know” when it will recover.
ShutterstockThe aforementioned news agency points out that the 5G network should be a revolution in automation and connectivity, but that business in the world is slow to adopt the new technology for driverless cars and remote jobs in the fields of medicine and engineering.