Motorola To Lay Off Another 4,000
Company Says Cuts Are Primarily in the Mobile Devices Business
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 1/14/2009 12:09:00 PM
Motorola announced Wednesday it would lay off an additional 4,000 employees this year, including 3,000 positions in the Mobile Devices business and 1,000 in corporate functions and other business units.
Amid plummeting sales of mobile phones, 
Motorola also said it would miss expectations for fourth quarter 2008 sales, which it now forecasts to be in the range of $7.0 billion to $7.2 billion compared with analyst consensus estimates of $7.51 billion.
The company expects a net loss from continuing operations in the range of $0.07 to $0.08 per share including special charges for reorganization and impairments of Motorola's investment in Clearwire. Motorola said once it closes its books the net loss for the quarter could be larger.
The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company expects to announce fourth-quarter 2008 financial results on Feb. 3.
The latest layoffs—expected to begin immediately—are in addition to the 3,000 employees Motorola said in October it would eliminate. Along with Motorola’s actions freezing pensions and most salaries, the 7,000 layoffs are anticipated to result in aggregate cost savings of $1.5 billion in 2009. The company reported a headcount of about 66,000 at the end of 2007.
Motorola said mobile devices sales in the fourth quarter were "adversely impacted by continued weakness in end consumer demand and customer inventory reductions," while the other units—Enterprise Mobility Solutions and the cable-focused Home and Networks Mobility businesses—"continued to perform very well in a challenging environment."
The company said it shipped 19 million mobile phones in the fourth quarter, less than half the 40.9 million units moved in the fourth quarter of 2007.
In the previous round of layoffs, Motorola substantially cut back its video-on-demand and switched digital video teams, according to company sources. About half of the 150 employees in the on-demand video group were eliminated and 10 of the 26 people in Motorola’s switched digital video group were laid off.
Motorola Home And Networks Sales Fall 27%
07/30/2009Motorola to Lay Off 2,600 More Employees
04/03/2008Motorola May Spin Off Mobile Division
02/01/2008
