Nokia Siemens officially renamed, or global layoffs of 8,500 people

Last month, Nokia fully acquired the 50% stake in NSN held by Siemens, bringing Nokia Siemens Networks (shortened as "NSN") under its full control. Today, NSN officially announced its name change. According to the latest foreign reports, the newly-acquired NSN seems to have caught Nokia's "layoff bug" and will carry out layoffs globally.

On Wednesday, Nokia announced that it had completed the acquisition of NSN. The company’s name will also be changed from “Nokia Siemens Networks” to “Nokia Solutions and Networks”. Rajeev Suri will continue to serve as CEO, while Jesper Ovesen will remain as the Executive Chairman.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing three sources, that due to declining revenues, telecom equipment manufacturer Nokia Siemens Networks is considering cutting 8,500 jobs globally, which accounts for approximately 17% of its workforce.

In the past two years, NSN has already laid off more than 20,000 people. As of the end of June this year, NSN had about 50,500 employees worldwide. However, according to these informed individuals, through a layoff plan, the number of NSN employees is expected to drop to 42,000 by the end of 2014, representing a reduction of 17%.

NSN is considering selling manufacturing plants located in Finland, India, and China. Negotiations with contract manufacturers are currently underway. It is understood that the layoffs will mainly be carried out through the sale or closure of factories and outsourcing of manufacturing operations, but no formal decision has yet been made.

In addition to layoffs, insiders also revealed that NSN is considering issuing 500 million euros in bonds to finance Nokia's payment of approximately 900 million euros in dividends.