Microsoft to cut 18,000 staff with 40 per cent of Nokia jobs axed
Microsoft is cutting a whopping 18,000 staff including 40 per cent of Nokia’s workforce after it acquired the Finnish firms device business earlier this year.
12,500 staff from the Nokia device business including professional and factory workers will go over the next year, with 13,000 positions being axed across the business within six months and up to 18,000 within a year.
The combined workforce of 127,000 will be cut by around 14 per cent with Nokia taking the largest hit, losing 40 per cent of its 30,000 workers.
Redundancies will also include a thinning out of the management level to create a flatter structure and discussions with staff will start tomorrow.
The swingeing cuts are a result of the integration of the two businesses as well as Microsoft, a traditional software PC business, struggling to adapt to a changing technology landscape shifting towards mobile and cloud services.