News
Another 1,350 Finnish jobs to go; $950 million impairment charge slated for fiscal fourth quarter.
Microsoft on Wednesday took the axe to what little remains of its smartphone business, announcing a fresh round of redundancies and yet another impairment charge.
The U.S.-based software giant said it is streamlining its smartphone hardware division. 1,850 jobs will be cut, 1,350 of which will be at Microsoft Mobile in Finland, with another 500 globally.
Microsoft said the downsizing will result in a restructuring charge of approximately $950 million (€852.43 million), $200 million of which will be in redundancy payments, in its fiscal fourth quarter.
"We are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiation – with enterprises that value security, manageability and our Continuum capability, and consumers who value the same," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, in a statement.
Continuum is a Windows 10 Mobile accessory that enables customers to use their smartphone as if it were a desktop PC by plugging it into a monitor.
Microsoft said it expects to complete the restructuring by July 2017, the end of its next financial year.
Wednesday’s announcement comes less than a year after Microsoft announced 7,800 job cuts and a $7.6 billion writedown on its Nokia handset assets, assets it originally acquired for $7.2 billion in 2013.
Furthermore, last year’s cuts came 12 months after Microsoft announced a company-record-breaking 18,000 redundancies, 12,500 of which were made at Nokia.
Last week, Microsoft agreed to sell the rights to the Nokia brand to Finland-based HMD Global. It also agreed to sell its feature-phone assets to HMD and FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Hon Hai/Foxconn, for $350 million. FIH Mobile will also acquire Microsoft’s handset factory in Vietnam.
When the deal closes, 4,500 Microsoft employees will have the option of transferring to FIH Mobile or HMD.
