Motorola lays off 9,400 more - News - Business

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Motorola lays off 9,400 more

December 19, 2001
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Motorola-lays-off-9-400-more/0,139023166,120262480,00.htm

Motorola has announced an additional 9,400 layoffs and said it expects to make it back to profitability in 2002.

Spokeswoman Margot Brown said Motorola, the world's second-largest mobile phone maker, has now eliminated 42,900 jobs since December 2000.

Brown said the new reductions are due, in part, to a "recession like we've never seen before" in the semiconductor industry, which is one of Motorola's strongest divisions. Brown also said the company is not ruling out even further reductions.

In the end, Motorola plans on eliminating more than a quarter of its work force. The company had about 150,000 employees in August 2000.

Motorola expects the layoffs, combined with other moves, to help the company reach profitability in 2002. It predicted it would have an annual earnings growth in 2002 of about 15 cents per share. That is in line with some early analyst estimates, Motorola said.

But that won't be before another one or two quarters of negative or no growth, according to a Motorola statement.

The company said its fourth-quarter sales and earnings per share will be "flat to three percent higher" compared with the third quarter of 2001. That is in line with estimates the company announced October 10, Motorola said.

The company said it would incur a loss of between 11 cents and 14 cents per share in the first quarter of 2002, which is worse than the 3 cent loss expected by analysts polled by First Call.