Google cuts 1,200 more jobs at Motorola
Google is cutting 1,200 jobs in its Motorola division just months after cutting 4,000 Motorola jobs.
Google is cutting 1,200 jobs in its Motorola division, in addition to the 4,000 jobs it cut months ago. Here, a Motorola handset displaying the Google homepage.
Reuters
Google is cutting an additional 1,200 jobs in its Motorola division as the unprofitable cellphone maker struggles to compete.
This comes months after Google announced 4,000 job cuts to the division.聽The latest reductions are in addition to those and will take place in countries such as the United States, China, and India.
"These cuts are a continuation of the reductions we announced last summer,"聽Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick said in an email.聽
U.S.-based聽Google bought Motorola last year for $12.4 billion. At the time, Motorola had about 20,000 employees.
The online search leader also expects to pare jobs at the division with a planned $2.35 billion sale of the Motorola set-top business, which has about 7,000 employees.聽Google had about 53,000 employees as of late September.
Google bought Motorola primarily for its 17,000 patents, bolstering the company in the mobile device arms race with other technology companies. The cellphone business has lost market share to Apple and Samsung, however, and posted operating losses of $1.1 billion since聽Google completed the Motorola deal in May.
The job cuts may not come as a complete surprise, considering Google executive Patrick Pichette鈥檚 previous statements about Motorola products. The CFO and senior vice president said at the Morgan Stanley鈥檚 Technology Conference that Motorola鈥檚 products are 鈥渘ot really to the standards that what Google would say is wow鈥攊nnovative transformative.鈥�
However, Pichette聽said the company is confident Motorola's cellphone business will eventually bounce back.
"These are not easy transitions,"聽Pichette聽said of the Motorola acquisition. "We have great plans for Motorola. There is still really hard work to be completed at Motorola before we see tangible signs" of progress.
Analysts have been concerned that adding a phone manufacturing business could hurt聽Google鈥檚 profitability and potentially alienate the other device makers that use聽Google鈥檚 Android mobile operating system. Samsung, HTC, and other phone makers run Android. Apple and BlackBerry have their own systems.
The Wall Street Journal reported the Motorola job cuts in Friday's editions.
Google shares rose $3.39 to $835.99 in premarket trading.