Motorola took another hit Thursday in announcing, through a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that it will lay off 2,600 employees. As a result, it will take a US$104 million pretax charge in the first quarter of the year for severance costs.
The US$104 million is partially offset by "US$9 million of reversals for accruals from prior periods that are no longer needed," according to the filing (thanks Silicon Alley Insider). "All three of the company's business segments, as well as various corporate functions, are impacted by these plans."
Thursday's news brings to about 10,000 the number of employees the company has eliminated since early 2007, according to The Wall Street Journal. The layoffs come amid a barrage of headlines documenting the recent death spiral of the company's cell phone business.
Motorola has seen its handset market share plummet, mostly due to a lack of compelling new products. In January, amid pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, the company said it would consider separating its handset business from the rest of the company in an effort to increase shareholder value and revive the struggling business. Late last month it officially announced its plan to break the company into two publicly traded entities.
This week's CTIA wireless industry trade show could have been a place for Motorola to show that it's bouncing back, by my colleague Charles Cooper noted that the "dearth of interesting product news out of Motorola" at the show "underscores its current plight."
This article was first published as a blog on CNET News.com.
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I think they do have a couple of good products tho most of their product line is out of fashion and uninteresting. Their MMI is not v friendly which is why i avoid the phone.
These 2 products look interesting (web link) (web link) but I cant even find them anywhere on sale in SG. None of the telco brought them in...ok...they aparently have a Singtel exclusive, but Singtel not promoting them well....I cant even find a decent number to call (Moto) to enquire. Left a enquiry email on their website which nobody responded.
At the end i bought a Samsung.
Posted by Maremex on Friday, April 04 2008 02:35 PM