Skip to main content

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.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Russia ramps-up technologies for transport communications
    March 28, 2018
    Covering an area almost as big as the US and Canada combined, Russia is planning to increase transport-related communications to improve road safety and traffic efficiency. Eugene Gerden reports. Russia’s government plans to increase road safety through the use of modern transport communication and the development of the relevant legislative base. Initially, particular attention will be on the introduction of connected cars and Vehicle to Anything (V2X) technologies. Russia has fewer than 60,000
  • Russia ramps-up technologies for transport communications
    March 28, 2018
    Covering an area almost as big as the US and Canada combined, Russia is planning to increase transport-related communications to improve road safety and traffic efficiency. Eugene Gerden reports. Russia’s government plans to increase road safety through the use of modern transport communication and the development of the relevant legislative base. Initially, particular attention will be on the introduction of connected cars and Vehicle to Anything (V2X) technologies. Russia has fewer than 60,000 connect
  • Managed motorways, hard shoulder running aids safety, saves time
    January 30, 2012
    The announcement that, in 2012/13, work to extend Managed Motorways to Junctions 5-8 of the M6 near Birmingham in the West Midlands is scheduled to start marks the next step for the UK's hard shoulder running concept, first introduced on the M42 in 2006. The M6 scheme is in fact one of several announced; over the next few years work will start on applying Managed Motorways to various sections of the M1, M25 London Orbital, M60 and M62. According to Paul Unwin, senior project manager with the Highways Agency
  • TagMaster heavy-duty ID-tags for mainline rail project in China
    April 23, 2012
    Sweden-headquartered RFID specialist TagMaster has received an order from Richor, the company’s premium Chinese distributor, to supply 10,000 Heavy-duty ID-tags. These customised 2.45 GHz ID-tags form part of several equipment orders relating to the Letter of Intent announced in May 2011, which covers the joint development of an RFID system for use on mainline railways in China.