Nokia to cut 50% of staff from UK ad sales division

Nokia is on the verge of withdrawing from the mobile ad market as it plans to cut more than half of its ad sales division, affecting up to 30 roles.

The Finnish handset manufacturer said it will refocus on other areas of the business only a year after launching its mobile ad network division at Mobile World Congress 08 in Barcelona.

A statement from Nokia said, “As part of its ongoing business review, Nokia has decided that the Nokia Interactive Advertising division should refocus its ad sales and other activities solely on Nokia services, together with some major third-party publishers. As a result of this there will unfortunately be some job losses in the UK office.”

The UK redundancies follow the closure of Nokia’s development and marketing site in Jyvaskyla, Finland, which affected 320 staff.

A Nokia spokesman said, “The worst-case scenario in the UK is that up to 30 people will go, and that’s over half the head count. Nokia is reviewing its business needs and focusing on core needs.”

Nokia made an initial announcement to its employees two weeks ago, with staff now going through a consultation period.

It has a number of ad deals with clients including Reuters, which is a global deal, CNet, Telegraph Media Group and Trinity Mirror. Rick Gleave, head of interactive and mobile at Trinity Mirror, said, “We’ve had a conversations with Nokia and our relationship remains unchanged.”

The statement from Nokia stated: “Nokia continues to believe that advertising will remain a key revenue generator for the future of internet services, and Nokia Interactive Advertising will continue to offer brands ad opportunities across a growing range of Nokia services.”

Behind the headlines

Nokia claims to reach more than 100m people globally through its own properties and those of partner publishers, which include CNet and Trinity Mirror.

This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk