Motorola confirms further staff layoffs

Motorola Mobility China confirmed Tuesday that it is carrying out a second round of massive layoffs, a further move to cut its workforce since Google Inc acquired its parent company Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion last year.

According to telecommunications industry website ccidcom.com, the US-based company is planning to cut 800 jobs in China, with the sales team also on the reduction list. After the layoff, only 200 jobs will be retained in China, mainly in the area of telecommunications management.

The report said the company's China CEO Meng Pu, who oversaw 1,000 layoffs at the company last year, has recently resigned as well.

Kevin Si, public relations manager at Motorola, told the Global Times Tuesday that the layoff was part of "our headquarters' global layoff decision," but refused to disclose further information about it.

Si said China was still "a very important market" for the company, and Motorola will continue to do business here.

The cellphone maker announced in March a reduction of 10 percent of the company's workforce worldwide, or 1,200 jobs, as part of plans to cut costs and address a slump in sales.

The company said on March 8 that "the new job cuts are a continuation of the reductions announced last summer," but it did not reveal how many employees would be laid off in China.

A previous round of business restructuring at the company in August 2012 resulted in 4,000 layoffs globally.

"The latest layoff has clearly demonstrated that Google's purchase of the company is aimed at acquiring Motorola's mobile intellectual property rights and core technology, not the company itself," Wang Jun, an industry analyst at Beijing-based consultancy Analysys International, told the Global Times Tuesday.

Wang said he expected the number of products from Motorola, once one of the world's most innovative cellphone producers, would continue to decline, as the job cuts will affect the company's ability to conduct research, development and production.