Google Puts 1,200 Motorola Jobs on the Chopping Block

Citing high costs, competitive markets and declining profitability, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced that it would be slashing 1,200 jobs from its Motorola Mobility division, a number which represents about 10 percent of the department’s workforce.

Since Google’s purchase of Motorola in 2011, it has been consistently slimming its workforce down. So far, about 20 percent, or 4,000 workers, have been laid off from the division. Google spent $12.5 billion on Motorola, mainly as a defensive maneuver to protect itself from legal attacks being made to its Android mobile platform.

The cuts hardly come as a surprise. A spokesman for Motorola told The Wall Street Journal: ”These cuts are a continuation of the reductions we announced last summer. It’s obviously very hard for the employees concerned, and we are committed to helping them through this difficult transition”…