Motorola to cut another 2,600 jobs

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.

[Hugh Newmark @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:11PM]

And to think, at one point the RAZR was the hottest thing in the world.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:11PM]

Meh.

[TMFAN @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:12PM]

It's hard to believe that this company was a giant of giants only a few years ago.

Oh well. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Hellomoto. Goodbyemoto.

[Tyrone Pipkin @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:21PM]

Join the club.

[gaforces @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:28PM]

Couldn't they just sell some of their corporate jets instead?

[jason.m.falk @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:35PM]

At this rate, they'll soon have one per employee.

[low tech @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:37PM]

"At this rate, they'll soon have one employee."

fixed.

[jb @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:42PM]

I think he meant they will have one jet per employee, not one employee.

[Flashpoint @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:52PM]

Motorola has been lazy for so long.

After the Razr Motorola basically had no worthwhile releases and lost all their thunder to iPhone and T Mobile. I should mention Blackberry too.

Sprint brought Nextel down, so no need for new Motorola Nextel phones -which sucks because I was waiting for a Nextel Razr.

[Urza @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:10PM]

Such a shame. Razrs were great phones. Durable little things too. My girlfriend dropped hers in a storm drain last year...it was fully submerged, while turned on, in muddy water, for two or three hours before we managed to get it out. It still works. Not the first time I've seen a Razr survive going swimming either actually. My ex-girlfriend, oddly enough, dropped hers in a toilet. Didn't have any problems with it either. She abused the thing too. Threw it across her room and into walls countless times.

[R @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:10PM]

Sell as many as you can vs. produce the best you can.

As long as people enjoy cheap versus great, there's room for Motorola. And... ahem... oh, never mind.

[Sudo @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:15PM]

My experiences with my Razr were horrendous.

[Aguiluz @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:53PM]

Yes... I can only imagine how many cuts you will get from holding that razor!







Oh... Wait.

[giantenemycrab @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:25PM]

It seems odd for them to be having hard times.. I thought that they were still doing pretty good. If they'd release a phone that enticed the RAZR/iPhone market, it seems like they'd rebound really quickly.

[Chuckles McGee @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:34PM]

Now their profits are RAZR thin.

[ShyStalker @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:41PM]

There is small town by me that has a large Motorola manufacturing facility. It is HUGE and it made the town prosper. But it closed a few years back and now the building just stands there empty. Hundreds were laid off of course. The town has gone downhill since. The school district there is now choking for money. They are even contemplating turning the building into a mall or an indoor park.

[Reader @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:08PM]

They deserve it for making so many fricking iterations of the RAZR or however the hell they spell it.

[Trent @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:29PM]

Could they move a few people over to QC? Because i'm on my third V9m in two weeks and i'm getting really frustrated.

[Pdexter @ Apr 4th 2008 1:28AM]

Hardly. You need member that states is currently Motos last strong hold. They lost the game in emerging markets to Nokia(where the biggest profits after all come) and are almost totally gone from Europe mostly because of Nokia and Sams. In smartphone gategory they dont exist while Nokia controls it.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Apr 4th 2008 1:31AM]

Zander and other top execs walked away with pockets bulging with cash and stock options after pulling the company under. The lowly workers get almost nothing for their efforts and get canned on top of that. It's a pretty sad situation at Motorola. I sure hope those top guys get their comeuppance some way, somehow.

Someone said that they were lazy at Motorola. I think it was a few key executives that were lazy, not the whole company. Even if they did ride the RAZR for a couple of years, they honestly should have been planning ahead for a replacement. Of course if the OS was messed up or quality control was lousy, then even a better looking, more modern handset would have had problems selling. It's just sad to see a decent company ruined by a few corrupt executives making poor decisions.

[Maze @ Apr 4th 2008 3:01AM]

Truly painful to listen bloody sad news from Motorola every now on then. They once had more than 35% of world market share. They once had that, people... they once had that... Now, everybody.

Don't You Forget About Me
Don't Don't Don't Don't
Don't You Forget About Me

NOT!!!!

[spaceb @ Apr 4th 2008 4:01AM]

Motorola phones are still very popular in my country, they sell like hot cakes.

[Esat @ Apr 4th 2008 5:51AM]

What did they expect with this attitude?

"Hey guys, lets try this new form of business and marketing management. Lets attempt no innovation whatsoever and surf the success of the same brand and design for the next 10 years!"

Fact: The user interface on moto phones make babies cry.

[Pdexter @ Apr 4th 2008 7:15AM]

Did they? Nokia has been market leader for at least 6 years now(40% currently) or did they have that 35% before it? Really i dont know i cant find any info about it.

I really hope they get their act together because Nokia and in some extent Samsung needs competition so us consumers get better products. They are just so way behind with features compared to SE, Sams and Nokia that i dont really know what they where thinking, but i wouldnt mind Moto looks>metallic>at least 3mpx camera and tweak that OS. Thought with the free fall they are going right now not even Razr like super hit could make them big enough to compite with big 2.

[Niraj @ Apr 4th 2008 9:01AM]

Yeah, I remember reading about this...after huge sales of the RAZR those top execs were too busy figuring out how to cash out instead of investing the money back into R&D and their employees which would have helped them stay on top. They really had some top talent there.

[mike @ Apr 4th 2008 9:33AM]

Say goodbye to the worst cell phone OS on the market.

[mike @ Apr 4th 2008 9:34AM]

The only thing the chinese wont knock off!

[rahulsundar @ Apr 4th 2008 9:54AM]

its all common among mobile giants and now Motorola is very carefully queuing up its products with best ever features to be launched at the final quarter of this year,,,, there are high chances of bouncing back to the peak

[john @ Apr 4th 2008 10:49AM]

Are you sure it is a 2600 layoff ... or is it a pre-tax charge on paying the severence of people they laid off in last Q of 2007?

I can't seem to find anything that says they are "expecting to cut 2600 jobs"

[Gipria @ Apr 4th 2008 10:55AM]

"there are high chances of bouncing back to the peak"
Moto wont be even touching Nokia's number one spot they are just so far away that it will take them much more than one really good line of phones. Currently it's just really hard to belive that Moto would have some hit phones coming globally and even staying in the current spot(3th).

Motorola 2006 21,1% market share
Motorola 2007 13.3% market share
Samsung 14.25% market share
Nokia 40.5% market share

[TRAFFICBLOWS @ Apr 4th 2008 11:44AM]

I love the picture

M:(

:)

[CaliforniaKid @ Apr 5th 2008 1:15PM]

Motorola..."cutting edge technology". I mean "job cutting technology."