TomTom to cut costs and staff

TomTom has announced it is targeting substantial cost savings in 2012 through a reorganisation and reducing some 10 per cent of the workforce. A company statement said that its research and development activities will be regrouped in ten product units - maps, traffic, navigation, automotive systems, PNDs, fleet services, fitness, mobile, POIs and speedcams - in a drive to increase development efficiency and reduce time to market.
April 17, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSS1692 TomTom has announced it is targeting substantial cost savings in 2012 through a reorganisation and reducing some 10 per cent of the workforce. A company statement said that its research and development activities will be regrouped in ten product units - maps, traffic, navigation, automotive systems, PNDs, fleet services, fitness, mobile, POIs and speedcams - in a drive to increase development efficiency and reduce time to market.

At the same time, the number of full time jobs at TomTom will be cut by 457, which accounts for approximately 10% of the total workforce. 255 roles will be made redundant, half of which are in The Netherlands, with the remainder being achieved through attrition. A restructuring charge of €14 million will be booked in Q4 2011 in relation to the redundancies and rationalisation of office space.

"The new structure brings more transparency and accountability; makes it easier to make innovation choices and will reduce our time to market,” said TomTom CEO Harold Goddijn who confirmed the company’s target to achieve cash savings of approximately €50 million in 2012 compared to its previously announced guidance of €540 million of OPEX and €80 million of CAPEX in 2011. “The majority of the savings will be achieved in operating expenses, and will be most visible in general and administrative and marketing expenses. A larger proportion of R&D expenditure will be allocated to growth areas, our strategic assets (maps, traffic intelligence and navigation) and new initiatives.”
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