Motorola slashes another 4000 jobs

(Telephony) Motorola will cut 4000 jobs from its networks sector, bringing to 22,000 the number of positions that have been slashed by the company since December.

The latest cuts—designed to reduce costs and position the company for long-term growth—will come from the company’s Commercial, Government and Industrial Solutions Sector (CGISS), the Global Telecommunications Solutions Sector (GTSS) and the Broadband Communications Sector (BCS).

Hardest hit will be the CGISS and GTSS, which will lose 1700 and 2100 jobs, respectively. The BCS will lose the remaining 200 positions. The 4000 total positions represent 7% of the network sector’s 55,000 workers, who are scattered across 100 countries.

Motorola indicated it expects to record a charge against first- and second-quarter earnings as a result of the cuts but has not specified how much.

“We don’t even have numbers on what demographic or geographic areas are going to be affected,” said a company spokesman. “Our employees are being informed and, by the end of second quarter, we will have more specific numbers.”

The networks sector was formed in January to provide broadband and wireless communications products, systems and end-to-end solutions. As it was being established, Motorola knew job cuts were inevitable but did not know how many, according to the spokesman.

“We kind of knew back in January when we restructured, but we just didn’t know exactly the in-depth details of how many employees and what locations,” he explained. “But after sitting down and watching the economy and watching what’s going on in all of the technology businesses, we felt this was the most appropriate thing to do.

“Our main goal is to provide the most appropriate communications solutions to our customers in a fashionable manner. Again, we’re just keeping a very watchful eye on the economy and making sure we can provide what our customers expect from us.”

With 22,000 jobs eliminated in less than four months, many wonder what further changes Motorola might be planning. Even the spokesman wasn’t sure.

“I sure hope the bleeding has stopped,” he said. “The big thing is getting our arms around this big tree and making sure that we’re in line with our finances. This is not to say we’re done or not done; we don’t know. From the network sectors group, we’ll have a better idea in the second quarter. But I don’t think you’ll see any more from this sector.”