Ericsson’s 1,500 job cuts may reach Kansas City area
Written on January 27, 2010
Ericsson plans to lay off an additional 1,500 workers after a dismal fourth quarter, and some of those could come from the Kansas City area.
The Swedish telecommunications company on Monday reported fourth-quarter earnings of 700 million kronor ($96.8 million U.S.), down 83 percent from 4.1 billion kroner during the same period a year ago. Revenue during the three-month period dropped 13 percent to 58 billion kroner ($8 billion U.S.) as sales in central Europe, Africa and the Middle East slumped.
Company officials, who slashed 5,000 jobs last year, said they would need to eliminate an additional 1,500 positions.
Last year, Ericsson signed a seven-year contract with Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) to take over day-to-day operation of Sprint’s wireless and wireline networks. The deal included sending about 6,000 Sprint workers, including 2,000 in Overland Park, to work for the newly formed Ericsson Services Inc.
Ericsson Services spokeswoman Carolyn Curtis said that Ericsson already has told about 1,000 of its global workers they are being laid off but that it hasn’t said from where the remaining 500 jobs would be cut no fax payday loans.
“It is certainly possible that a few will be from Ericsson Services,” she said.
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However, Ericsson’s managed services portfolio — which includes the work with Sprint — was a bright spot for the company, with revenue rising 19 percent from the year-ago quarter to 5.1 billion kronor ($705 million U.S.), and the company said it sees continued demand from telecommunications companies to make their networks more efficient.
Sprint ranks No. 1 on the Kansas City Business Journal’s list of the area’s top public companies, ranked by annual revenue.
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