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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. 

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Reuters
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.
  • By Michael Liedtke Associated Press

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. 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," Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick said in an email. 

U.S.-based 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. 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 Google completed the Motorola deal in May.

The job cuts may not come as a complete surprise, considering Google executive Patrick Pichette’s previous statements about Motorola products. The CFO and senior vice president said at the Morgan Stanley’s Technology Conference that Motorola’s products are “not really to the standards that what Google would say is wow—innovative transformative.”

However, Pichette said the company is confident Motorola's cellphone business will eventually bounce back.

"These are not easy transitions," Pichette 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 Google’s profitability and potentially alienate the other device makers that use Google’s 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.

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