Ericsson plans to cut nearly 14,000 jobs by the end of
2004, after posting yet another quarterly loss.
Ericsson's workforce of around 61,000 at the end of the first
quarter 2003 will shrink to 52,000 by the end of the year and
47,000 by the end of the third quarter of 2004, president and chief
executive officer Carl-Henric Svanberg said.
At the end of the first quarter in 2002, the company employed
around 107,000 people.
Svanberg, who took over the helm of the financially troubled
Swedish provider of wireless equipment and network services, is
stepping up efforts to cut costs and return the company to
profit.
Ericsson posted a first quarter net loss of 4.3bn Swedish kronor
(£330m) on sales of 25.9bn kronor. This compared to a loss of 3bn
kronor (£230m) on sales of 37bn kronor for the same period the year
before.
Sony Ericsson Mobile Phones, the subsidiary into which Ericsson
folded its mobile phone business, shipped 5.4 million units in the
first quarter, down 7% compared with the first quarter of 2002.
The Swedish company's focus on mobile infrastructure backfired
after mobile operators in Europe spent billions of dollars on
acquiring 3G (third-generation) broadband mobile internet licences
and the global economy weakened.