Ericsson to cut 5,000 jobs, revenue up

Network equipment giant Ericsson reported fourth quarter and year-end earnings that both showed rising revenues, but lower net income. The company also said that despite relative strength sustained by the mobile infrastructure sector thus far through a troubled global economy, it plans to cut about 5,000 jobs to be more competitively positioned for whatever lies ahead. Ericsson's fourth quarter revenue was about $8 billion, an increase of 23 percent from the same quarter of 2007, while net income dropped about 31 percent to $467 million. For the full year of 2008, revenue was up 11 percent over 2007 to $25 billion, but net income was down about 48 percent to $1.35 billion.

Much of the net income hit reportedly was due to charges from past restructuring, so despite the job cuts, there could be reason to view Ericsson's performance as a glimmer of hope for fourth quarter numbers. We'll see if that sense of hope is sustained in the days and week ahead as more companies issue fourth quarter and full-year 2008 reports.

For more:
- Light Reading Europe covers [1] the earnings call

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Ericsson reported similar revenue and profit trends for the third quarter [2]
Ericsson announced 4,000 job cuts in early 2008 [3]