Nokia will cut 10,000 jobs before 2014

Nokia has announced it will cut a further 10,000 jobs worldwide as it looks to steady its financial ship.

The cuts come as part of Nokia's plan to significantly reduce its operating expenses, while sharpening its strategy, improving its operation and returning to profitable growth.

The Finnish firm has had a rough ride over the past few years, as it lost ground in the smartphone market, with its Windows Phone-based Lumia range yet to match the likes of Samsung, Apple and HTC in the sales game.

40,000 and counting

This latest round of cuts from the Scandinavian firm now brings the total lay offs to 40,000 since 2010.

The various money saving plans Nokia is about to employ are predicted to reduce its operating costs by €1.6 billion (around £1.3 billion/$2 billion), which would see total costs for 2013 equate to €3 billion – a significant reduction compared to the €5.25 billion (around £4.3 billion/$6.6 billion) Nokia spent in 2010.

Timo Ihamuotila, Nokia's executive vice president and CFO, said: "With these planned actions, we believe our Devices and Services business has a clear path to profitability. Nokia intends to maintain its strong financial position while proceeding aggressively with actions aimed at creating shareholder value."

Another way Nokia is cutting costs is by selling its luxury phone brand Vertu to private equity group EQT.

Nokia has also announced that a number of its executives will be leaving the company, including Jerri DeVard (chief marketing officer), Mary McDowell (executive vice president of Mobile Phones) and Niklas Savander (executive vice president of Markets).

From Nokia via Engadget