There are more layoffs happening at Motorola Mobility.
The Chicago-based cell phone maker is cutting hundreds of jobs in a move by parent company Lenovo to trim more of its staff. Lenovo said it's cutting less than 2% of its 55,000 employees, the majority of which will impact its Motorola employees. Lenovo bought Motorola from Google for $2.9 billion in 2014.
"The majority of the positions being eliminated are part of the ongoing strategic integration between Lenovo and its Motorola smartphone business as the company further aligns its organization and streamlines its product portfolio to best compete in the global smartphone market," Lenovo said in a statement. "The company is also making adjustments in other areas of the business as part of a continued effort to manage costs, drive efficiency and support ongoing improvement in overall financial performance. While these actions are never easy, they are a necessary part of our continued efforts to ensure long-term, profitable growth across all of our businesses."
It's unclear where, geographically, the layoffs will hit Motorola, but Lenovo said in a statement that it remains committed to Chicago.
"Lenovo is absolutely committed to Chicago and we plan to maintain our Motorola Mobility headquarters there," Lenovo said in its statement. "Chicago has a well-deserved reputation for technical excellence and as the hub of our global R&D for our smartphone business we expect to take advantage of local talent to continue developing Moto products there."
Whatever the exact number, the cuts are certainly significant. Last year Motorola cut 500 positions--a quarter of its employees--in Chicago, leaving less than 2,000 workers in the Merchandise Mart. The cuts could leave just several hundred people left Moto's Chicago headquarters.
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