The tough times just don’t seem to end at Motorola — the company announced today that it’s laying off another 2,600 workers, for a total of 10,000 positions eliminated since the start of 2007. That’s on top of the various high-level executive departures that have been taken place lately, not to mention the company’s plan to split off its mobile phone business, which will undoubtedly lead to more cuts down the line. The goal is to reduce costs by some $500M by the end of the year, and some of the jobs being lost come as Moto closes a factory in Singapore and a WiMAX development lab in Florida. There’s no word on when the cuts are going to come, but here’s hoping all these aggressive steps lead to a little vacation for Sad Moto here.
The board of directors has agreed to split Motorola into two independent, publicly-traded companies. The new entities will be called Mobile Devices and Broadband & Mobility Solutions. The Mobile Devices business will focus on the design, manufacturing, and sales of mobile handsets and accessories globally.
The Broadband & Mobility Solutions business covers Moto’s enterprise, government, public safety, and home and networks business. Greg Brown, Motorola’s president and CEO, says the reason for the split is easy, “Creating two industry-leading companies will provide improved flexibility, more tailored capital structures, and increased management focus – as well as more targeted investment opportunities for our shareholders.” Right, weren’t those the reasons for the Palm split? The matter is of course subject to regulatory approvals, but Motorola hopes that the transaction is complete “in 2009.”
