Back in August, Motorola announced that they would be cutting 20% of their global workforce, a third of which would be from the U.S. They also planned to exit struggling Asian markets and focus on making fewer phones in favor of a select group of high-end devices. Today, they announced a revision to those plans, ones that will jump severance costs up from $275 million to $300 million. They will also incur another $40 million in costs to exit those previously mentioned struggling markets and to close facilities.
That may not be the end, though. Google mentioned 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.” So while Google and Motorola get this train back on the tracks, there may be even more shifting in the future.
For consumers, this probably doesn’t mean all that much. You’ll have less low-end Motorola phones to choose from and only a few select high-end devices, something I can’t imagine you’ll complain about. Losing jobs in the U.S. is never a good thing, though.
Via: Reuters
We joke about certain teams getting let go (boot-loaders dev team/Blur team) and they are funny posts, but we should all know in the back of our minds that not only are employees getting laid off but their families are going to be effected too. 20% of those families are going to have a tough holiday season.
Not trying to make anyone feel guilty, but just aware of what corporate layoffs due to real people/families.
So first it’s Moto Layoff.
Now it’s Moto Layoff MAXX.
What’s next?
Can’t stop laughing. Sorry but this is so funny. Just think about it!
“Losing jobs in the U.S. is never a good thing, though.”
Creative destruction.
At least they went out on a high note. #Bionic
Just wait and see what motorola does in 2013. Good things are coming. Can you say quad core Intel powered nexus?
I hope the people they’re planning to layoff will get treated right. It would be great if they’re offered jobs elsewhere within Google. If not, a decent severance package. It would be great if companies would give a year’s worth of salary to each employee that they’re sending out the door.
Did you miss this?
“Today, they announced a revision to those plans, ones that will jump severance costs up from $275 million to $300 million.”
The commenters on this site never read the articles. They jump to the comments to try for upvotes.
No, I saw it. It doesn’t really mean much. In addition to severance packages, there are other costs involved with laying people off. The company still needs to pay taxes on that severance, pay for unemployment as well, and there’s the administrative costs to get all of that decided, agreed upon, and put together. Some good companies spend the money on assisting them with finding another job and/or resumé writing. I have been through that and the company they hired wasn’t able to place anyone out of 100 people; though they did walk away with a tidy profit.
You’d be surprised at how fast that $300mil will get widdled down to just a few weeks of severance per person.
Yeah, wouldn’t it be great if they imbued them with powers to poop gold nuggets too? They never have to work again! Seriously, a years severance to every employee? I can’t even wrap my mind around why you think people deserve a years severance when they get fired from a job that was losing a company money.
In reply to myself, I know that sounds harsh but if you have experience running a business and not just working for one, you realize money doesn’t just come from nowhere. It would be great if magically people received a year’s salary when they lose them.
In reality, nobody loses their job because a company has enough money coming in to pay employees a year without production.
I left out some context in that statement. IMHO, I think it would be nice for an employee that is going to be laidoff due to no fault of their own and has been employed for a certain period of time (the amount of time is debatable) get a decent severance package. Unemployment just wont cover all of one’s expenses for a lot of people. A severance of one weeks pay for every year of tenure isn’t that much. Even at eight years, that’s just two months. Look at some of these executives that get laid off from companies big and small; they get some huge severances.
The last company I worked at, they let the president of a subsidiary go with a massive benefits package and a bunch of money. The guy was completely useless except for his contacts in the industry and was the only reason why they bothered to keep him around after he proved he was incompetent. He spent most of his time streaming video of golf and Fox News; I’m not exaggerating either. In meetings he’d ask stupid questions that were already covered, then rephrase the question over and over when he didn’t get the answers he liked. His nepotism was legendary, ignorance astounding, and he fancied his redneck self as better than anyone else and felt that it was his right to park in a premium parking spot even though it was marked handicapped.
If I ran my own company, I’d want to take care of my employees, including after they were laid off if it ever came to that.
I can see where you’re coming from now but I still don’t think anyone should be required or expected to pay severance to anyone. It’s difficult enough to come up with the money to pay full time employees for a lot businesses in the US right now.
I do think massive severance packages for CEOs is unwarranted. More or less the only time a CEO is fired is when they are doing a terrible job. Nobody should be rewarded for that.
Locked bootloaders, bad screens, and non existent customer support and upgrades will generally do this to a company.
Considering customer support replaced an Atrix 4G I hard bricked whilst trying to revert to FroYo after the terrible GB update, I wouldn’t say they’re bad.
This is what happens when you take your customers for granted.
We are not their customers, unless you count doo-dads like accessory chargers, BT headphones and desktop docks. The carriers are the true customers in the perverse world of the US wireless market (and, ironically, just as the telcos and cable companies are the customers for Moto Mobility’s settop boxes too).
Look at Palm since the Handspring acquisition, Moto’s dark years after milking the original RAZR to death and RIM’s current troubles–handset manufacturers hardly care how disenchanted you and I are, as long as the carriers keep lining up to put in another bulk order of another RAZR spin-off or new color scheme.
this is what happens when you find a stranger in the alps
This is what happens…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5HY1rBPPQQ
haha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCcKBcZzGdA
I hope they cut the bootloader encryption crew.
Me. Want. Moto. Nexus. That. Is . All.
Just give me a Moto Nexus with a S4 Pro, 2GB ram, HD Edge to edge display, and Razr Maxx battery life and they’ll have my money and I’m sure a lot of other ppl’s money as well.
Seriously. Like what is so hard about this? +1
I’ll take all of that with a 2nd model that has a slide-out keyboard. I know there’re people that prefer the slimness that a lack of a physical keyboard can provide and there’re people like myself that is willing to have a little extra bulk for a physical keyboard.
I still think a slide “off” keyboard is the way to go. The best of both worlds and not that difficult to engineer.
That would be awesome if it could slide out, then off if you wanted it that way. Maye the keyboard has a tiny trackpad on it and detaching the keyboard reveals a kickstand for the display…batteries in both pieces, combining to make a super battery when the device is fully put together, and powering each piece when separated…*drool*
Losing a few Blur developers isn’t so bad.
We need to stop. Blur is the best skin out there now. If I can’t have stock then give me blur.
Droids don’t need an epidermis, they’re robots. Blur is only good for eye doctors.
Politicians could use a little Sense every now and then.
Ha. True, I wish most of them would Touch Wiz.
You’re right, but it’s not as good as losing all of them.
I’m just happy Google didn’t pull a romney and chop up the company keep what that wanted and liquidated the rest. They see the value and are investing into Moto to make it solvent again. Moto is one of the oldest companies in america and has done a lot for U.S., they deserve a second chance.
please stop with the Blur comments….. seriously. Moto did a TREMENDOUS job in making ICS for their devices not be “blurwich” … it is VERY close to stock ICS. Though I agree that early versions of Blur sucked, the latest versions don’t seem to take away anything from the device.
Well, I agree. Just look what HTC did with ICS. Blur is way better.
how about they cut the bootloaders… am i right?
can we get back to nexus rumors now?
Losing a few Blur developers isn’t so bad.
I love how the DL Guest gets downvoted with the same comment as the DL Member that gets upvoted. Same time, too.