Nokia Corp.’s (NOK) fourth-quarter net income fell to its lowest point since 2001, down 69 percent, the mobile phone maker said on Thursday.
The bad numbers – combined with a revenue drop of about 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 – caused Nokia to cut its dividend for the first time in seven years. Nokia’s net income plunged to approximately $745 million; the company recorded net income of about $2.4 billion in 2007’s fourth quarter.
Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, said it sold 15 percent fewer phones than it did the same period a year earlier. Rivals Motorola and Sony Ericsson are seeing similar slower sales.
The gloomy numbers are prompting Nokia to cut costs at its handset division by about $900 million annually; the company did not detail how it would go about doing that but layoffs are sure to be involved.
