The announcement of the cuts, which represent 42% of the company’s workforce, comes two days after British mobile communications giant Vodafone announced it would cut 11,000 jobs over the next three years, representing 10% of its workforce.
“Both companies are suffering from inflationary pressures, particularly from the energy sector,” said Victoria Scholar, analyst at Interactive Investor, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
BT employs 130,000 people, including contractors. And the company revealed, when announcing its financial results, its intention to reduce this number to between 75 and 90 thousand in the period of five to seven years.
The announcement comes amid a regression this year that has hit the tech sector through the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, and giant companies like Facebook-owner Meta have not been spared. in the context of the repercussions of the sharp increase in inflation on the world economy.
The job cuts announced by BT on Thursday come on top of cost-cutting measures announced three years ago.
In the late 2000s, company chief executive Philip Jansen said, “BT Group will rely on a much smaller workforce at a much lower cost.”
He stressed that the company is trying to cope with “exceptional” economic conditions and that when it gets smaller it will be “a more flexible company with a better future”.
The company revealed on Thursday that its net profit rose 50% to 1.9 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) in the financial year ending March, but that was due to a one-time tax measure .
Pre-tax profits were £1.7bn, down 12% from the same period last year, while revenue fell 1% to £20.7bn.
The company’s decision to cancel jobs reflected negatively on its shares, as it lost around 9% of its value in morning trading on the London Stock Exchange, before regaining some of its recovery during the day.
“Headlines will no doubt focus on job cuts,” said Hargreaves Lansdowne analyst Matt Pressman, noting the move is “dramatic but not entirely surprising given rising costs and tight margins.” in the business.
Among the steps taken by BT was the announcement last year of cooperation with the American “Warner Bros. Discovery” in the field of sports television broadcasting through its “BT Sport” channel.
The new channel, called ‘TNT Sport’, is due to start broadcasting later this year, and is aimed particularly at Britain and Ireland.
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