Google to cut 4,000 jobs in Motorola

BANGALORE, INDIA: Apparently, Google is going to lay off around 4,000 employees of Motorola Mobility, the handset manufacturer, which was taken over by the former this May.

Also, there are plans in store to shut down a third of Motorola's 94 offices across regions, said a New York Times report, adding that one-third of the 20 per cent employee reduction (overall) will be in the United States.

The cuts are the first step in Google's plan to reinvent Motorola, which has fallen far behind its biggest competitors, Apple and Samsung, and to shore up its Android mobile business and expand beyond search and software into the manufacture of hardware, elucidates the report: http://nyti.ms/QWfdOH.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Google has posted an 8-K form confirming the job cuts and closures: http://1.usa.gov/PhKc4E.

The NYT report added that though Google bought Motorola (in a $12.5 billion acquisition) partly because of its more than 17,000 patents, which can help defend against challenges to the Android operating system, it also planned to use Motorola to make its own, better smartphones and tablets.