Motorola To Cut 185 Jobs In Illinois
CHICAGO (STMW) - Motorola Mobility, the smartphone maker based in Libertyville, will cut 800 jobs worldwide — but a company spokeswoman said the downsizing has nothing to do with the company's planned $12.5 billion takeover by search giant Google.
The cuts, which also involve consolidating office spaces and reducing "discretionary" spending, are "intended to improve operating efficiency and financial performance and are not related to Google's proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility," spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch-Erickson said late Friday.
About 185 of the job cuts will occur at Motorola Mobility offices in downtown Chicago and in Libertyville, but none of the office closings will occur in Illinois, said a source close to the situation.
The company, which announced in May a deal to accept $100 million over 10 years to keep its headquarters and 3,500 jobs in Libertyville, is taking pre-tax costs of $27 million to pay severance costs and $4 million for the office closings. Motorola is expected to keep the tax incentives as long as it maintains at least 2,500 jobs in Illinois.
Motorola Mobility was separated from the rest of Motorola in January. The company has remade itself as a maker of smartphones based on Google's Android software, but has struggled against Apple Inc. and Asian smartphone makers. Google's Android operating system runs smartphones that compete with iPhones, BlackBerrys and Windows-based mobile devices.
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