Google makes 1,200 more job cuts at Motorola Mobility

Google is to make 1,200 more job cuts - around 10 per cent of its workforce - at Motorola Mobility, the mobile phone maker it acquired for $12.5bn (£7.7bn) in a protracted deal completed in May 2012. 

The job cuts are part of a wider plan to try to bring the loss-making company back to profitability.

The cuts follow 4,000 job losses announced back in August 2012, as Google sought to downsize Motorola Mobility's operations.

Today's layoffs, which were made known to The Wall Street Journal newspaper via a leaked internal email, show that Google is struggling to make its acquisition of the mobile handset maker work.

"While we're very optimistic about the new products in our pipeline, we still face challenges," said the email, adding, "our costs are too high, we're operating in markets where we're not competitive and we're losing money."

The layoffs are expected to particularly affect the US, China and India.

Google paid $12.5bn (£7.7bn) for Motorola Mobility partly to help strengthen its Android platform with Motorola's knowledge and expertise, but mostly - as admitted by Google CEO Larry Page at the time - for the company's huge patent portfolio, which he said would "help protect" Google from Apple, Microsoft and other mobile giants.

Page also said in late January 2013 that Motorola phones will in future focus on battery life and durability, saying: "You shouldn't have to worry about constantly recharging your phone. When you drop your phone, it shouldn't go splat. Everything should be a ton faster and easier. There's real potential to invent new and better experiences."

The company's Razr Maxx HD already has a large 3,300 mAh battery inside, which gives it potentially the longest battery life of any smartphone on the market.

Motorola Mobility lost a reported $100m (£66.5m) during Q4 of 2012.