Motorola Mobility to cut 800 jobs

Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., the smartphone manufacturer that has agreed to be taken over by Google Inc., has revealed it will slash 800 jobs worldwide, Bloomberg News reports.

Cutting jobs will cost the company $31 million — $27 million for severance and $4 million to close facilities – Motorola Mobility stated in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Bloomberg News.

A source close to the situation told the Chicago Sun-Times that the company will shed about 185 jobs at the Motorola Mobility offices in downtown Chicago and its headquarters in Libertyville, Ill.

Motorola Mobility spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch-Erickson said late Friday that the cuts were “intended to improve operating efficiency and financial performance and are not related to Google’s proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility,” the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

In August, Google announced it would acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.

More from GlobalPost: Google to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion

The transaction still requires shareholder and regulatory approvals, Marketwatch reports, but Motorola said on Thursday that it expected the deal to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

More from GlobalPost: Google buys Motorola: Genius or colossally stupid?
 

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