Nokia announced today plans to reduce its global workforce by up to 10,000 employees, as well as the departure of three top executives and the closure of facilities in Germany, Canada, and Finland.
The changes come at a time when the Finnish company is trying to tighten its belt, admitting that smartphone competition from Apple and Android has negatively affected Nokia more than expected.
The company warned investors that losses in the second quarter of 2012, which ends June 30, would likely be higher than the first, and is anticipated to continue to drop into the third quarter.
"With these planned actions, we believe our Devices & Services business has a clear path to profitability," Nokia Executive Vice President and CFO Timo Ihamuotila said in a statement.
Between April and September of 2011, Nokia said it would cut a total 7,500 employees in the next year, including some in the U.S. In February 2012, the company announced plans to do away with 4,000 manufacturing jobs as a way to save money and increase efficiency, cutting employees in Hungary, Mexico and Finland, and transferring the assembly of smartphones to Asia.
Today's shake-ups reached all the way to the top of the company, where executive changes built a new leadership team, effective July 1. As five new advisors step in, three others bowed out, "to pursue other opportunities outside of Nokia," a press release said.
Moving forward with its effort to re-stabilize the company's profits, Nokia said it will focus more effort on its line of Lumia handsets and increase emphasis on location-based services.
"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," Nokia president and CEO Stephen Elop said in a statement.
The company also said it will work on "broadening the price range of Lumia" and its Windows Phone platform, making the handsets more competitively priced, similar to its new low-cost Asha line of touch-screen phones.
It has been a busy week for Nokia, which announced on Wednesday that the phone maker is in talks to sell its Vertu handset line for almost $250 million, according to Reuters. On Monday, the company was caught among rumors of an acquisition from Microsoft or Samsung, both of which were squashed by the businesses.
Nokia also partnered this week with Swedish mobile imaging company Scalado, acquiring imaging specialists, as well as all technologies and intellectual property from Scalado, a press release said.
"We are very excited about this opportunity, which is a natural next step in our longstanding relationship with Nokia," Scalado CEO H?kan Persson said in a statement.
The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2012. The terms of the transaction are confidential.
For more from Stephanie, follow her on Twitter @smlotPCMag.
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