13 IT companies cutting jobs 

Worst is said to be over for the IT industry. Both analysts and industry chieftains are heaving a sigh of relief as one of the worst recession since Great Depression shows signs of easing.

But with recession ending, is the worst over for the job market too? Yea so it seems. For, the job cuts are no longer piling the way they were till months back when according to a study, 5 jobs were lost globally every minute.

However, as the companies eye a revival in demand, they are also bracing themselves up for a tough market and on the way cutting costs and with it jobs.

Here are 13 IT companies who have announced job cuts in the past one-and-a-half months.


Nokia

Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, said last month (November 2009) that it would cut around 220 jobs in Japan as part of its plans to streamline its vast research and development (R&D) operations.

"As part of its global efforts to align its R&D operations to be in line with its focused portfolio of future products, Nokia will be reducing its R&D activities in Japan," the Finnish company said in a statement.

Just week before week Nokia also announced about some 330 job cuts at its R&D units in Denmark and Finland. The company employs about 17,000 people in R&D worldwide.

The mobile phone giant launched a cost-cutting programme last January, after its earnings fell as consumers cut back on buying handsets amid the global financial crisis. The programme aims to generate more than $ 1 billion in annual savings. Nokia has announced about 4,000 job reductions since January, including around 1,300 voluntary redundancy packages.


AOL

Web company AOL plans to cut one-third of its workforce, or about 2,500 jobs, in an effort to trim some $300 million in annual costs as part of its planned spin-off from Time Warner Inc.

The struggling Web pioneer, which is slated to become an independent company focused primarily on advertiser-supported content, said that it has asked for volunteers, but will perform involuntary layoffs if enough workers do not step up.

AOL expects to take restructuring charges of up to $200 million, substantially all of which would be incurred from the date of the spin-off through the first half of 2010.


Sony Ericsson

Cell phone handset maker Sony Ericsson will move its headquarters and close a half-dozen sites worldwide. Expecting a tighter market, the company plans to cut about 1,600 jobs globally.

The joint venture between Sweden's LM Ericsson and Japan's Sony Corp will consolidate product development operations by closing sites in Research Triangle Park; Seattle; Miami; San Diego; Kista, Sweden; and Chennai, India, spokeswoman Stacy Doster said.

The site closures are new elements of a plan announced in April to cut a worldwide staff of 10,000 by 20 percent, Doster said. About 400 jobs have been cut since then and about 1,600 remain to meet that goal by the middle of next year, she said.

The cost-cutting follows the loss of 2,000 jobs last year. The 8-year-old company has about 425 workers left in Research Triangle Park after shedding hundreds of jobs in the past year. Operations include customer support, sales, finance and research and development.

Sony Ericsson said its share of the global handset market came to around 5 percent in the third quarter, compared to 38 percent for market leader Nokia Corp.


Adobe

Adobe Systems, known for its Photoshop editing programme and Acrobat document software, announced in November that it was cutting some 680 jobs worldwide, about nine percent of its workforce.

Adobe, in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said it would incur between $65 million and $71 million in restructuring charges because of the layoffs.

Adobe said the jobs being cut only involve employees who were with the San Jose, California-based company ahead of its October acquisition of Web analytics firm Omniture Inc.

Adobe, which employed 7,564 people worldwide at the end of August, also produces the Flash and Shockwave software used in many games and Internet applications.


Microsoft

November also saw Microsoft Corp adding another 800 job cuts to the 5,000 announced in January under a plan to reduce costs. A spokesman for the world's largest software firm said the latest job cuts are spread across the company's global operations, but about 200 are in and around its headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

Microsoft originally had planned to cut 5,000 jobs, or about 5 percent out of 96,000, before June 2010. The Microsoft spokesman said that plan has been expanded with the new layoffs and is now complete, well ahead of schedule.

As of October 23, Microsoft had 91,005 employees worldwide, according to its website.


Nokia Siemens

Struggling telecom equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) aims to cut up to 5,800 jobs and save more than $1.48 billion to stay competitive in the cut-throat market.

The company will revamp its operations hoping to benefit from its stronger position in offering services to operators. Telecom gear makers have been hit hard by the recession, which crimped operator spending, and by tough competition from China's Huawei and ZTE.

To match the commercial flexibility demonstrated by Chinese vendors, Nokia Siemens had to cut back its production, R&D and overhead costs, according to an analyst. Last month market leader Ericsson reported third-quarter earnings below expectations and declined to forecast an upturn. NSN, a joint venture of Nokia and Siemens, said it aimed to cut 500 million euros in annual fixed costs by the end of 2011, putting up to 5,800 of the firm's 64,000 staff at risk.

Workers in Germany and Finland protested against the plan. NSN said that it would shrink its five business units to three as part of the shake-up, and would consider partnerships and acquisitions to boost growth.


Sun Microsystem

In November, Sun Microsystem announced a series of changes designed to align its cost model with the global economic climate and accelerate the introduction of compelling open source innovations. As part of this effort, Sun also announced a global workforce reduction.

According to a company statement, Sun plans a reduction of approximately 5,000 to 6,000 employees, representing approximately 15% to 18% of the company's global workforce.

The plan approved by the Sun's Board of Directors aims at reducing costs by approximately $700 to $800 million annually.


Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel recently announced it plans to cut between 2,000 and 2,500 jobs as part of a restructuring plan aimed at reducing labor costs by at least $350 million, on an annual basis.

The third-largest wireless provider in the US said that most of the positions will be eliminated by the end of this year. The job cuts will affect all levels of the company across all geographic locations.

The job cuts are the latest action the company has taken to trim costs. Sprint slashed 8,000 poistion in the first quarter of 2009 in an effort to save $1.2 billion annually.

Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, has recently seen a higher level of customer satisfaction and "is taking this action in a careful manner to ensure that there is no impact on the improved customer experience," the company said in a statement.


Electronics Arts

Game-maker Electronics Arts announced in November that the company will be cutting both jobs and games. Some of the company's big games like Mirror's Edge, Need for Speed: Undercover, Rock Band 2 reportedly underperformed.

The company said that "lower than expected sales across North America and Europe" will result in lower earnings for the current fiscal year, and as a result, EA will be working to update their financial strategy until the end of Q3 in February. This includes a "reduction of its product portfolio" for the 2010 fiscal year.

The company is reported to be moving forward with its plans, originally announced in its quarterly earnings report on October 30, to reduce 6% of its workforce. The company had 9,000 full-time workers, including 5,100 outside the US, according to its annual report on March 31. Based on the same, the company plans to cut some 450 jobs.


ST Ericsson

Early December chip maker ST-Ericsson said that it plans to cut around 600 jobs worldwide as part of a move to save $115 million a year. The joint venture between Swedish wireless equipment firm LM Ericsson AB and Swiss chipmaker STMicroelectronics said it will “conduct a global workforce review.”

It said it will announce further details of the layoffs and which countries will be affected after it has been in contact with the related unions.

The savings will add to a previous savings programme announced in July. To reach the annual savings target ST-Ericsson will also reduce operating expenses and introduce an efficiency programme within its research and development operations.

ST-Ericsson was formed as a joint venture between Ericsson and STMicroelectronics in February 2009 with main headquarters in Geneva.


MTN

South Africa's MTN too has announced its plans to reduce its permanent and temporary workforce. According to a company statement, approximately 403 permanent employees may be affected towards the end of March next year, which comprises about 7% of MTN SA's 4679 permanent employees.

MTN SA will also be reducing the number of temporary employees in its service during 2010 although the company has added that it will try to limit the number of jobs affected.

To mitigate the effects of possible job losses, a proper consultative route - firstly to avoid retrenchments and redundancies and secondly to mitigate its adverse effects - will be followed in line with legal requirements says the company.


Applied Materials

Chip equipment maker Applied Materials said that and that it would eliminate 1,300 to 1,500 jobs as it grapples with a downturn.

The company's fourth-quarter profit fell 40 percent. The company says that the job cuts represent 10 to 12 percent of its global work force and are part of a reorganization to save $450 million a year. This is in addition to the $460 million in cost cuts it achieved in fiscal 2009, which ended on October 25.

The job cuts will be completed in the next 18 months.


Ericsson

Recently, Ericsson indicated that it is to cut around 950 jobs in Sweden, representing around five percent of the local workforce. The bulk of the losses come from the closure of the company's base station factory at Gavle.

The site in Gavle employs 856 people. A further 90 job cuts will occur at the facility in Boras. The company has previously said that is it targeting cost savings of $1.4 billion by the middle of next year, which would involve some 5,000 job losses on top of the 4,000 losses last year. The company had 82,500 staff at the end of September, although this was boosted by 6,000 when Ericsson took over the network management for the US based Sprint Nextel.


Rogers Communications

Rogers Communications Inc, Canada’s biggest wireless phone company, cut “several hundred” jobs in late November. Terrie Tweddle, a spokeswoman at Toronto-based Rogers, told the newspaper that the cuts affected less than 5 percent of the Brampton office, which has 5,000 employees, mostly in information technology, network and call center positions. Rogers has about 30,000 employees across Canada.

Rogers reportedly said in September that it would "further integrate" its cable and wireless businesses, without giving details about the exact job cuts.