SCHAUMBURG, Illinois (AP) -- Beleaguered cell phone maker Motorola Inc. said it is laying off another 2,600 workers, bringing the company's total employee cuts to more than 10,000 since last year.
Motorola will take a pretax charge of about $104 million (euro66.98 million) in the first quarter for severance costs from the new layoffs, the company said in a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Schaumburg-based company said $113 million (euro72.78 million) in severance charges will be partly offset by $9 million (euro5.8 million) in reversals for accruals from prior periods that are no longer needed.
Last week, Motorola bowed to pressure from investors and said it will split off its troubled cell phone business and form two separate, public companies.
Motorola said it would eliminate 3,500 jobs in January 2007 as part of a two-year cost-cutting plan to save $400 million (euro257.63 million). The company announced cuts of another 4,000 jobs in May 2007 with hopes of improving its sagging financial and operational results.
The world's No. 2 handset maker has eliminated more than 10 percent of its work force since the start of 2007, when it became clear that two years of strong momentum behind the popular Razr phone had collapsed.
Motorola's shares slid 12 cents to $9.65 (euro6.22) in after-hours electronic trading Thursday. The stock had closed up 16 cents at $9.77 (euro6.29) in the regular session.
The company is expected to release its full first-quarter financial results April 24.
