Motorola cutting 1900 jobs

Motorola is culling its ranks for the second time in less than a year, laying off 1900 of its roughly 68,000 employees from all of its major project divisions and facilities around the world.

In filings with the SEC, Motorola officials said the cut backs were a result of Motorola’s efforts to streamline its supply-chain activities and reduce other operating costs. The job cuts will affect four of its principle operating divisions, Mobile Devices, Networks, Government & Enterprise Mobility Solutions and Connected Home Solutions, as well as it the corporate ranks. Twenty-nine facilities in 20 countries will be affected, and severance costs and other related expenses will cause Motorola to incur a $90 million pre-tax charge on its third-quarter earnings statement, the filing said. Motorola finalized the decision on Sept. 30, the last day of the third quarter.

Last December, Motorola laid off 1000 employees in its integrated electronics, government and enterprise, and broadband divisions as the company prepared to spin off its chipset group, Freescale. In 2003, Motorola eliminated another 6600 positions, as it continued to drastically scale down its workforce from the 150,000 high it had in 2000.

Two factories in Korea and a distribution facility near in Elgin, Ill., will be closed down and replaced with design facilities, according to reports from financial publications.

In related news, Motorola is suing PalmSource, claiming the developer of the popular Palm OS reneged on a buyout agreement last month, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.