Mobile World Congress Organizer to Cut 20% of Global Workforce

  • Follows cancellation of flagship Barcelona event in February
  • CMO says cuts made to ensure events can continue from 2021

An attendee walks between exhibition halls at the MWC Barcelona in 2019.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

The mobile technology industry’s trade body is cutting about a fifth of its workforce after being forced to cancel a conference that generated most of its revenue.

The decision by the GSMA follows the cancellation of February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona -- an early major industry casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic -- which accounts for as much as 80% of the trade group’s annual revenue. The company has around 1,000 staff.