News

The operator group will eliminate hundreds of jobs as part of wider efforts to generate €1 billion in cost savings

Back in November, Vodafone’s announcement of its most recent financial details was met with concern as the multinational mobile network operator group continues to struggle to turn its fortunes around. The company’s results in highly competitive markets like Germany and Spain were particularly poor, adding further weight to the operator’s long-held beliefs that consolidation is needed in various European markets.

Following these results, Vodafone announced that it would seek to cut its costs by €1 billion by 2026, partly though simplifying their portfolio. At the time, CEO Nick Read hinted that some of these cost-savings could be derived from job cuts, though the scale of these cuts was not yet clear.

Now, the first wave of cost-saving job cuts, with the Financial Times reporting that the company is seeking to cut “several hundred jobs”, with sources suggesting that most of these will come from Vodafone’s London office.

Vodafone reportedly employs around 104,000 people globally, around 9,400 of which are in the UK.

The news follows announcements earlier this week of a major leadership reshuffle within Vodafone, with the CEO of Vodafone Spain, Colman Deegan, stepping down from the role, and Vodafone Italy CEO Alado Bisio appointed group chief commercial officer.

This leaves Vodafone now hunting for two new CEOs, with Group CEO Nick Read having stepped down from his role at the end of last year.

Margherita Della Valle, previously the Group’s head of finance, is serving as interim CEO until the position can be filled.

However, the start of 2023 has not been all doom and gloom for Vodafone. At the start of this week, the company announced that it had agreed to sell its Hungarian unit to local IT specialist 4iG for €1.7 billion.

The operator said that the funds would be used to pay down the company’s debt.

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