DailyTech - Google Completes Acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Layoffs Likely

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Gadgets Google Completes Acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Layoffs Likely
Tiffany Kaiser - May 22, 2012 11:47 AM

21 comment(s) - last by JKflipflop98.. on Jun 9 at 4:03 AM

(Source: ecosummit.net)

Neither Google nor Motorola have confirmed the possible upcoming layoffs

Google has finally closed its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, with China approving the deal just this past weekend.

Motorola is in a pretty tough spot right now. Earlier this month, the company reported a fifth straight quarter of losses, which included a net loss of $86 million USD for Q1 2012. In previous consecutive quarters, Motorola reported net losses in the low $80 million area. Motorola is having a hard time likely because of its inability to keep up with other Android-powered phonemakers like Samsung and HTC.

"I'm excited to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed," said Larry Page, Google CEO. "Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone. We all remember Motorola's StarTAC, which at the time seemed tiny and showed the real potential of these devices. As the company who made a big, early bet on Android, Motorola has become an incredibly valuable partner to Google."

Google also announced today that Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha has stepped down and Google executive Dennis Woodside will take over.

However, the deal closing may also mean layoffs for other Motorola Mobility employees in the near future. According to Tech Crunch, layoffs could be on the list of things to do after the deal closes.

But Motorola has already gone through restructuring since the announcement of the Google acquisition last year. When the announcement went public, Motorola had 19,000 employees. In fall 2011, about 800 employees were laid off.

Neither Google nor Motorola have confirmed the possible upcoming layoffs, but Tech Crunch noted that Google had previously ordered a 40 percent cut of DoubleClick staff when it acquired the company and its 1,600 employees. This could be a similar situation.

Source: Tech Crunch