Carphone Warehouse To Cut 450 US, UK Jobs

Carphone Warehouse Group will cut 450 jobs at its call centers and head office, as part of a strategic review to identify cost savings.

The planned job cuts won’t affect the group’s store staff or its fixed-line and broadband Talk Talk service, but rather the group’s joint venture with Best Buy.

The company is hoping to redeploy some of the staff to other parts of the business.

The job cuts won’t affect the rollout of big box Best Buy stores across the UK and Europe, with 200 new stores planned by 2013.

Last year Carphone Warehouse put its 2,400 European and US retail stores into the joint venture, in return for a cash payment of £1.1 billion ($1.8 billion) from Best Buy.

The company said in January that it expects earnings next year to be flat.

The Carphone Warehouse Group is Europe’s largest independent mobile phone retailer, with over 1,700 stores across the continent. They are based in the United Kingdom. Outside the UK and the Republic of Ireland, the retailer is named The Phone House.