Motorola outlines costs of layoffs

Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. said Thursday in a federal filing 2,600 workers were laid off between January and March, costing more than $100 million in severance and other costs.

The layoffs were part of a previous announcement of reducing costs by $500 million, spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson said.

"The work-force reductions are intended to make financial resources available for strategic business investment while better aligning operational costs and expenses with business growth," Erickson said.

The 2,600 layoffs came from all the company's businesses worldwide. The affected employees have been informed and will be leaving over the next several months, she said.

In mid-March, Motorola notified 121 workers at its Birmingham, England, research center that about half would be laid off and the center would close. It also decided to stop making phones in Singapore, affecting 700 workers.

Information on where the other layoffs are occurring was not available Thursday evening.

In connection with the reductions, Motorola will incur a net pre-tax charge of $104 million for the first quarter, the filing said.

The beleaguered mobile phone company said last week it is preparing to split into two publicly traded companies by next year. Last year, the company laid off roughly 7,500 workers. At the end of the year, it had about 66,000 employees worldwide.