Vodafone layoffs: New CEO to sack 11,000 workers over 3 years

British mobile phone giant Vodafone on Tuesday said it planned to axe 11,000 jobs over the next three years as new chief executive Margherita Della Valle seeks a "simpler" organisation.

"Our performance has not been good enough," Della Valle said alongside news of flat annual revenue at the group.

At 11,000 positions, Vodafone is seen axing more than 10 percent of its global workforce, which stood at 104,000 staff last year.

"To consistently deliver, Vodafone must change," Della Valle added in a statement.

"We will simplify our organisation, cutting out complexity to regain our competitiveness," added Della Valle, appointed CEO on a permanent basis at the start of May after five months as interim boss.

Vodafone's announcement follows the axing this year of tens of thousands of jobs across the global tech sector, including by Facebook parent Meta, as soaring inflation weakened the economy.

Della Valle's predecessor Nick Read stepped down in early December after a four-year tenure marked by a steep fall in the company's share price.

He left with Vodafone in talks over merging its UK operations with rival Three UK, owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison.

Media reports say a deal worth £15 billion ($18.7 billion) is close to completion.

Vodafone on Tuesday added that group revenue stood at 45.7 billion euros in its financial year to the end of March, almost flat compared with 2021/22.