Motorola Mobility To Cut 20% Of Workforce, Shrink India Ops

Motorola Mobility has told employees it plans to slash 20 percent of its workforce and shut down nearly a third of its offices worldwide, the New York Times reported.

One-third of the 4,000 jobs lost will be in the United States as the company plans to exit unprofitable markets, stop making low-end devices and focus on a few cellphones instead of dozens, Dennis Woodside, Motorola’s new chief executive, told the paper.

Motorola Mobility’s parent Google Inc, which had previously reserved its comments on Motorola’s future, has outlined the first steps to turn around the ailing cellphone maker, the newspaper said.

The world’s No.1 search engine agreed to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion last year, aiming to use Motorola’s patents to fend off legal attacks on its Android mobile platform and expand beyond its software business.

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In addition to the coming cuts, Google has downsized Motorola management, letting go 40 percent of its vice presidents, but has also hired new senior executives, the newspaper said.

Motorola also plans to shrink operations in Asia and India, and centre research and development in Chicago, Sunnyvale and Beijing, the paper said.

Motorola Mobility could not immediately be reached for comment.

The company at present has 94 offices throughout the world.

Image courtesy: Reuters