Revenue last fiscal year was nearly $50 billion, but cash flow is on the decline.

Edward Gately, Senior News Editor

May 16, 2023

3 Min Read
Tech layoffs, Vodafone layoffs
Visuals6x/Shutterstock

Vodafone layoffs will impact 11,000 workers over the next three years as its new CEO says the company’s performance “has not been good enough.”

The cuts are part of a new road map for the UK wireless carrier, following a strategic review conducted over the last five months. CEO Margherita Della Valle said the end result will be a “leaner and simpler organization, to increase our commercial agility and free up resources.”

The Vodafone layoffs will occur both at its headquarters and local markets. Vodafone employs 104,000 people globally, according to its latest annual report.

Keep up with our telecom-IT layoff tracker to see which companies are cutting jobs and the ensuing channel impact.

Della-Valle-Margherita_Vodafone.jpg

Vodafone’s Margherita Della Valle

“To consistently deliver, Vodafone must change,” Della Valle said. “My priorities are customers, simplicity and growth. We will simplify our organization, cutting out complexity to regain our competitiveness. We will reallocate resources to deliver the quality service our customers expect and drive further growth from the unique position of Vodafone Business.”

Vodafone Layoffs Latest in Long List of Companies Cutting Jobs

The Vodafone layoffs are just the latest among companies doing business in the channel. Job cuts have impacted thousands of workers since the start of the year. Among the most recent layoffs are DropboxRed HatCDW, F5 and Akamai.

Vodafone reported $49.7 billion in revenues for its fiscal year ending March 31. That’s roughly unchanged compared to the previous year. However, it issued negative financial guidance for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, with a major decrease in free cash flow.

Vodafone‘s target is to be a best-in-class telco in Europe and Africa, and become Europe’s leading platform for business, Della Valle said. Among the changes to achieve this:

  • Rebalancing the organization to maximize the potential of Vodafone Business, which continues to accelerate growth, has a unique set of capabilities, and has a strong position in a large and growing market as organizations digitize.

  • Refocusing on the basics, and delivering the simple and predictable experience customers expect.

  • Focusing resources on a portfolio of products and geographies that is “right-sized for growth and returns over time.”

Action Plan

“Our turnaround must be built from our strengths, but we need to overcome some clear challenges,” Della Valle said. “We are more complex than we need to be, which limits our local commercial agility.”

In addition to the layoffs, Vodafone‘s action plan includes significant investment reallocation in fiscal year 2024 toward customer experience and brand, a turnaround plan in Germany, and continued pricing action and strategic review in Spain.

“We will change the level of ambition, speed and decisiveness of execution,” Della Valle said. “We will have empowered markets focused on customers, scale up Vodafone Business and take out complexity to simplify how we operate.”

Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Edward Gately or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Read more about:

Agents

About the Author(s)

Edward Gately

Senior News Editor, Channel Futures

As news editor, Edward Gately covers cybersecurity, new channel programs and program changes, M&A and other IT channel trends. Prior to Informa, he spent 26 years as a newspaper journalist in Texas, Louisiana and Arizona.

Free Newsletters for the Channel
Register for Your Free Newsletter Now

You May Also Like