Google widens cuts at Motorola, expects $340 million charge
The staff cuts and restructuring will happen outside the U.S., Google says, and most of the related costs will cover employee severance.
Google has further evaluated Motorola Mobility's business and has found more parts that it wants to dump.
The company said today in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has identified additional areas in which it plans to cut staff and restructure the mobile firm. Google says that those actions will occur outside of the U.S. and include $300 million in costs related to employee severance. Google also expects to incur $90 million in charges for "facility and market exits," though it will pay only $40 million of that this quarter.
"Google Inc. expects to incur certain charges in connection with planned restructuring actions at its wholly-owned subsidiary Motorola Mobility (Motorola)," CFO Patrick Pichette wrote in the filing published today. "Motorola has continued to refine its planned restructuring actions and now expects to broaden those actions to include additional geographic regions outside of the U.S."
Google closed its $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility acquisition earlier this year. Since then, the company has been systematically reducing the smartphone maker. Back in August, Google said it would cut 4,000 Motorola jobs, or 20 percent of its workforce, to the tune of $275 million in severance charges. The move, the company said, would help Motorola "return to profitability."
In a statement to CNET today, a Google spokesperson said that the "filing was made to provide updated information around Motorola Mobility's cost reductions that were announced earlier this summer." The filing was an amendment to the earlier layoff announcement.
Since it took over Motorola earlier this year, Google has also changed the company's strategy by dedicating more resources to smartphones than its lower-end mobile phones business. Google has also installed Dennis Woodside as Motorola's new CEO to replace Sanjay Jha.
Looking ahead, there's no telling when Google will finally put an end to its deep Motorola cuts. In the SEC filing, the company said that "Motorola continues to evaluate its plans and further restructuring actions may occur, which may cause Google to incur additional restructuring charges, some of which may be significant."
This story has been updated throughout the morning.