Google to slash 1,200 Motorola Mobility jobs

Google Inc’s Motorola Mobility hardware unit is laying off about 1,200 employees, around 10 per cent of its headcount in the US, China and India, the Wall StreetJournal said in a report.

Staffers of Motorola Mobility, which is trying to return to profitability, were informed by the company via an e-mail this week about the said layoffs.

The e-mail reviewed by the

Wall Street Journal said: “while we’re very optimistic about the new products in our pipeline, we still face challenges. ...our costs are too high, we’re operating in markets where we’re not competitive and we’re losing money.”

The layoffs will affect workers in the US, China and India, it said.

The new cuts come on top of a 20 per cent reduction of Motorola’s workforce that started last August, when it said it would lay off 4,000 employees. As of the end of 2012, Google said Motorola had 11,113 employees.

Google had agreed to pay $12.5 billion for Motorola in a deal struck in mid-2011. Since the acquisition was completed, Motorola has continued to show operating losses as its smartphone and tablet market share fell.

In the third quarter of 2012, it posted an operating loss of more than $500 million and a loss of more than $350 million in the fourth quarter.