Mobile phone giant Nokia Corp., based out of Espoo, Finland, is planning to close its Kirkland offices in Parkplace later this year in a restructuring effort around its Ovi Share Internet site.
“These changes will also enable us to increase efficiencies in a number of areas related to our Services business,” said Nokia spokesperson Laurie Armstrong in an e-mail. “These actions are in line with our previously announced plans.”
The move will leave the Kirkland business center with a 25,000-square-foot space to fill at 550 Kirkland Way. Nokia moved into the office space last summer and employed 60 people at the offices. The company brought in $6,100 in tax revenue to the city, a minimal monetary loss, said Kirkland’s Economic Development Manager Ellen Miller-Wolfe.
But other impacts are significant for Kirkland.
“They’re not a big sales tax generator but it is a loss for a city that prides itself as an important address for IT companies, especially the small ones,” Miller-Wolfe said.
The company has not given a specific date for the closure or said if there will be layoffs. Nokia also has offices in Bellevue, Vancouver, B.C. and California.
“While these changes do not have major impact to our site structure across North America, there is some opportunity to consolidate some of the work being done at smaller sites, like Kirkland, into other offices we have in the area,” said Armstrong.
Ovi Share, the media sharing site, never saw much traffic as it competed with more popular and established sites like YouTube, Facebook and Flickr, officials said. The Ovi Share system was created with technology that Nokia obtained when it bought Redmond-based firm Twango in 2007. Nokia said that it will keep the photo and video sharing service associated with Ovi Share but will not invest further in the venture.
The company has said that it will rely on third-party services in the future.
Nokia reported its first-ever quarterly pretax loss for January-March due to sinking phone demand. The company is also in the middle of a big cost-cutting program, having shed 3,500 jobs so far.
