Sony Ericsson to close down Kista research unit
ERICY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Loss-making mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson will close down its research and development unit in Stockholm's 'Silicon Valley'.
During an all-employee-meeting on Wednesday Japanese-Swedish Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications said it would close down its research and development operations in the Stockholm suburb of Kista, people familiar with the matter told The Swedish Wire.
Some 130 employees and 100 consultants will be affected by the closedown, mainly engineers working with next generation mobile phone devices such as the operating system Symbian.
Sony Ericsson spokesperson Gustaf Brusewitz conformed the company's plan to close down the unit and that staff and consultants have been informed.
"Our intention is to close down the research unit in Kista," he told The Swedish Wire. "Negotiations with the unions have started."
A redundancy notification was filed with the Swedish authorities Wednesday to notify them that the company expect around 130 employees to be laid-off.
Marketing and treasury departments will not be affected.
The move is part of the company's business transformation program with the aim to cut costs, realign internal resources and improve efficiency. Operations is likely to be focused to Tokyo, Beijing and Lund in south Sweden.
The programme started a year ago in which Sony Ericsson will phase out activities in some of its locations worldwide and plans to reduce headcount globally by 2,000 people. Sony Ericsson intends to complete its programme by mid-2010.
Last month Sony Ericsson, the handset making joint venture between Japan's Sony and Sweden's Ericsson, reported a sharply wider third-quarter net loss and a 42-percent plunge in sales. Net earnings came to minus 164 million euros (244 million dollars) in the July-September period.
"Transforming the business for future growth and returning Sony Ericsson to profitability is the focus of the senior management team and will continue under the new leadership," the company said in its third-quarter report, indication further heavy cost cuts.
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