Not three months ago, the giant Google announced the purchase of Motorola Mobility for a value of 12,500 million dollars (about 8,700 million euros at the change). An operation that had been underway for many months and that would allow the big G to enter the hardware business, a way to “boost the Android ecosystem”, according to Larry Page, and to fight against the intense patent war in the that the guys from Mountain View were getting involved as well. But of course, the situation was not easy for Motorola, far from it. The purchase by Google coincided with a very tough time for the company. If Google wanted to lift the company out of its financial difficulties, a restructuring of the company would be necessary.
Google realized the importance of this restructuring and it seems that the changes are beginning to arrive, although they are not as good as we expected since, this time, the changes have harmed the most important part of any company: the workers. As reported by the New York Times newspaper, Google’s restructuring will begin by laying off 20% of Motorola’s workforce (about 4,000 employees), who will begin to leave the facilities in the coming weeks. Senior officials are not spared either, since Motorola plans to remove 40% of its vice presidents. And if these changes were few, a third of the 94 offices will also be reduced Motorola has, mainly affecting the headquarters in Asia and India, with the aim of focusing primarily on the Chicago, Sunnyvale and Beijing offices.
In two words: cuts and profitability
If something Google has gotten us used to lately is cuts, and this position is clearly shown in Motorola. We are no longer referring only to the fact of loading a large part of the company’s workforce, but Google’s cuts are focused on more sectors, sectors that directly affect the consumer. Like those of Mountain View they are doing with a good part of their services (Buzz, Wave, etc.), the restructuring of Motorola means ending all those markets and products that are not profitable for Google.
Call it restructuring or modernization, but the truth is that Motorola plans to move away from all those markets that are not profitable for itIn this way, trying to correct the economic problems that are plaguing the company. The data is clear: Motorola ended with losses in 14 of the last 16 quarters, and it seems that focusing on the most competitive markets is the only way to get the company afloat.
Products, as we have mentioned, will also be affected. Motorola plans to cut its wide range of terminals that it currently has and basically focus on a few devices. In other words, Motorola plans to focus solely on smartphones that, analyzing the situation carefully, is what Google is interested in. Basically, the search engine’s strategy is to design quality devices that return the company to the main positions in the market.
Ultimately, the restructuring of Motorola is already coming. The downside, the roughly 4,000 employees who will leave their jobs. But, in my opinion, if a company has the potential to resurface, it is Motorola. The more than 17,000 patents that Motorola has (and that are now owned by Google) are a diamond in the rough, especially for Google, which is seeing how Samsung is involved in numerous lawsuits with Apple for theft of patents. Also, owning this company can be a good resource for Google when it comes to getting the next versions of Android, and possibly their Nexus devices. Now we only have to wait a few months to see if Google’s plans for Motorola begin to forge
And you, do you think that Google will be able to resurface Motorola, despite the great economic hardships it is going through?
