Nokia to cut thousands of jobs

Any hope that fall 2023 wouldn’t be a repeat of the layoffs that struck the tech industry over last winter and spring seems to be diminishing by the day. The 150-year-old Finnish giant Nokia Corporation, which is one of the biggest telecommunications companies today, is now this month’s latest tech giant to announce it will ax jobs.

Nokia said on Thursday that it will cut up to 14,000 of its workforce after it revealed disappointing Q3 2023 numbers. The company’s third-quarter sales were down 20% on weak 5G equipment demand. In North America—one of Nokia’s most important markets—sales were down 40%. 

Announcing the layoffs, which Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark phrased as “resetting our cost-base to protect profitability,” the company said it would cut between 9,000 and 14,000 workers. Specifically, Nokia said the cost-cutting program “is expected to lead to a 72,000 to 77,000 employee organization compared to the 86,000 employees Nokia has today.” Those numbers mean Nokia could lay off as much as 16% of its global workforce.

The reason Nokia is giving a relatively broad range when it comes to the number of layoffs is because the final total “will depend on the evolution of end market demand.” In other words, it will depend on whether Nokia’s sales pick up. If not, it’s likely the layoffs will be at the higher end of the range.

As for where the job cuts will come from, Nokia says its Mobile Networks, Cloud, and Network Services divisions will be most impacted, as well as Nokia’s corporate functions. Nokia did not say in which countries its workforce will suffer the most losses.

Nokia’s announcement comes after competitor Qualcomm announced it would lay off about 2.5% of its workforce earlier this month. It also follows job cut announcements at LinkedIn and Bandcamp earlier this week.