TomTom will cut hundreds of jobs due to improvements it has made in automating its map-making activities, the Dutch digital navigation company said on Wednesday, adding that the cuts would amount to around a tenth of its hand of world work.
“Unfortunately, this will have an anticipated impact on approximately 500 employees in our Maps unit,” the company said in a statement. “Full evaluation of the financial implications of the Maps unit restart is ongoing.”
ING analyst Marc Hesselink estimated the cuts would hit relatively low-wage workers, adding that the company’s saving and restructuring costs should balance out at around €30m each.
“For the past few years, TomTom has been working towards the holy grail of a fully automated map creation process,” Hesselink said in a research note, adding that an investment campaign launched this year appears to have been successful.
Chief Executive Harold Goddijn said higher levels of automation would create better, broader maps that would allow it to address a broader market among its automakers and technology customers.
TomTom shares rose slightly in Amsterdam in the morning, but the stock has lost more than a quarter of its value since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company, whose customers range from Volkswagen and Renault to Uber and Microsoft, has been hit by supply chain shortages triggered by a pandemic that forced automakers around the world to cut production.
It reaffirmed its cash and sales forecasts in April, when it said it had seen limited immediate effects from Russia’s war in Ukraine, as some factories owned by automakers and suppliers in the country remained open.
TomTom said it would provide an update when it announces its quarterly financial results on July 15.
Conforms to The Trust Project criteria
