The Dutch digital navigation company TomTom (TOM2.AS) announced on Wednesday that it will lose hundreds of positions as a result of gains it has made in automating its mapmaking activities, a tenth of its global staff.
“Regrettably, this will have an intended impact on approximately 500 employees in our Maps unit,” the company said in a statement. “The full assessment of the financial implications of the reset of the Maps unit is ongoing.”
According to ING analyst Marc Hesselink, the cuts will disproportionately affect lower-paid employees, with the company’s savings and restructuring charges expected to total roughly 30 million euros ($32 million) apiece.
“Over recent years TomTom has been working towards the holy grail of a fully automated map-making process,” Hesselink said in a research note, adding that an investment drive launched this year appears to have been successful.
Higher levels of automation, according to CEO Harold Goddijn, would enable it to generate better, broader maps, allowing it to reach a bigger market across its automobile and tech customers.
In morning trade in Amsterdam, TomTom shares increased modestly, although the stock has lost more than a fourth of its value since the coronavirus outbreak began.
Volkswagen (VOWG p.DE) and Renault (RENA.PA) are among the company’s clients, as are Uber (UBER.N) and Microsoft (MSFT.O). The company has been impacted by pandemic-related supply chain problems, which have pushed automakers around the world to cut production.
In April, it reiterated its cash and sales estimates, saying it had seen limited immediate effects from Russia’s war in Ukraine because several carmakers’ and suppliers’ factories in the nation remained operational.
TomTom said it would provide an update on July 15 when it releases its quarterly financial results.
