Nokia says it’s making changes aimed at ‘sharpening its strategy’ and returning to profit. It’ll be investing in location-based services and making this an area in which Nokia products stand out. The company is cutting up to 10,000 staff, reducing the number of factories its runs, acquiring a new business, selling its Vertu luxury brand and changing its leadership team.
Stephen Elop, Nokia president and CEO, said “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. We intend to pursue an even more focused effort on Lumia, continued innovation around our feature phones, while placing increased emphasis on our location-based services. However, we must re-shape our operating model and ensure that we create a structure that can support our competitive ambitions.”
Closures and staff cuts
Factories in Ulm (Germany) and Burnaby (Canada) are expected to close, along with manufacturing in Salo (Finland). Research and Development in Salo will continue. Other unspecified ‘non-core assets’ could also be reduced or sold.
Up to 10,000 staff worldwide are expected to be cut by the end of 2013, in addition to previously-announced redundancies.
Nokia had already planned to cut operating expenses by more than 1 billion Euro in 2013; it now aims to add a further 1.6 billion Euro of cost reductions by the end of 2013.
Leadership team changes
Juha Putkiranta has been appointed as Nokia’s executive vice president of Operations. Timo Toikkanen is the new executive vice president of Mobile Phones, Chris Weber is executive vice president of Sales and Marketing, Tuula Rytila is senior vice president of Marketing and Susan Sheehan is senior vice president of Communications.
This reorganisation will see Jerri DeVard stepping down as chief marketing officer, Mary McDowell leaving her role as executive vice president of Mobile Phones and Niklas Savander no longer being executive vice president of Markets.
Scalado
Technology, patents and staff from imaging business Scalado AB are being acquired by Nokia. It expects Scalado’s HQ in the Swedish city of Lund to become a key site for Nokia’s imaging software for smartphones.
Vertu
Luxury mobile phone brand Vertu - formed in 1998 by Nokia - is being sold to private equity group EQT VI, with Nokia retaining a 10% shareholding. Vertu is based in the UK and employs approximately 1,000 people worldwide.