Motorola plans 4,000 job cuts

Motorola plans to cut a further 4,000 jobs this year to bring the total cuts for 2007 to more than 11 per cent of its work force…

Motorola plans to cut a further 4,000 jobs this year to bring the total cuts for 2007 to more than 11 per cent of its work force.

Motorola, which had already planned to complete 3,500 job reductions by June 30th, yesterday forecast restructuring charges of about $300 million, or about 8 cents per share, over the rest of 2007 as a result of the latest layoffs.

The company, which has been losing market share to rivals such as Nokia due to a lack of advanced phones and tough price competition, had said in April that it would announce additional cost-cutting plans by June.

The latest planned cuts at the company, which had 66,000 employees at the end of 2006, will be made by the end of the year, according to Motorola, which did not provide specifics on the break-down of the lay-offs.

READ MORE

Motorola's stock rose to $18.46 in after-hours trade following the news, up 1 per cent from its close of $18.28 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company forecast $600 million in annual cost savings in 2008 as a result of the latest job cuts, other spending controls and site rationalisation. It said it was on target to save $400 million from the 3,500 lay-offs announced in January.

The company said there would be no adverse effect on customer service or product quality as a result of the cuts.