Nokia’s official website recently released a poster stating that Nokia’s new product launch will hold online on April 8, 2021. The poster shows the back of a man in the forest, but it does not reveal any device. The theme of the conference is “Love Trust Keep”. We expect the company to release a variety of products.
Nokia recently signed a video standard patent licensing agreement with Samsung. According to Nokia, it will license the patents on a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory basis. It will allow other companies to use its accumulated patent results at a lower price.
Nokia’s G10 mobile phone was previously certified in Malaysia, code-named “TA-1334”. This phone is expected to use a 6.4-inch screen and a 48-megapixel rear quad camera. Other specifications of this device are similar to the Nokia 5.4.
Nokia sacks over 10k employees in two years – hit China the most
Unlike Swedish rival Ericsson, Nokia did not disclose how many employees it had in its quarterly financial statements. In the past year, this concealed Nokia’s total labor cost reduction of 500 million euros ($597 million) a year. However, in the latest annual report released by Nokia, it can be seen that nearly 5,000 jobs were reduced in 2019, and more than 6,000 jobs disappeared last year.
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The report shows that Nokia’s net layoffs hit 11044, taking Nokia’s average number of employees in 2020 to 92,039. This means that its total employees drop by 11% in just two years. A regional analysis shows that employment figures all over the world have declined, but China has experienced the largest decline. Last year, the number of employees in China fell by 12% to 13,749, a decrease of nearly 3,500 since 2018.
The company’s employees in the Americas have also decreased significantly, with a 9% reduction in 2020 and a reduction of more than 2,800 positions since 2018.
Nokia did not say anything about the massive layoff
The company did not mention spending cuts in the report. “In recent years, as we have adjusted our strategy in response to business goals and activities, our workforce has fluctuated”. This is the company’s only statement with respect to adjustment(s). It fails to mention any form of layoff.
The good news for investors is that Nokia’s operating profit margin has almost doubled to 4% in 2020, although sales have fallen by 6% to around 21.9 billion euros ($26.1 billion). Two years ago, the Finnish manufacturer had an operating loss of 59 million euros ($70 million). By 2020, it has achieved a profit of at least 885 million euros ($1.1 billion).
