Motorola Mobility starts laying off 1,200 workers: report
SUN-TIMES MEDIA March 8, 2013 12:21AM
Updated: March 8, 2013 7:17AM
Motorola Mobility has started to lay off of about 1,200 workers, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing a company email. The Google-owned company’s hardware unit’s layoff will include employees in the U.S., China and India, according to the Journal.
Motorola Mobility, based in Libertyville, has hurt Google’s earnings. In January, Google’s fourth quarter earnings report showed Motorola Mobility mounting losses and decreasing revenue. It posted $1.51 billion in revenues, down 40 percent from $2.5 billion a year before and $1.78 billion in the previous quarter, Google said. Motorola’s losses stood at $353 million in the fourth quarter, with an operating loss of $152 million. The phone business lost $70 million a year ago with an operating loss of $56 million. But the fourth quarter didn’t provide an apples-to-apples, year-to-year comparison because Google didn’t own Motorola Mobility in 2011.
The company is slated to move 2,800 employees from Libertyville to the Merchandise Mart starting this spring.
