Motorola Cuts Another 4,000 Jobs; Issues Q4 Warning; Handset Unit Sales Drop 25% Sequentially

Motorola (MOT) this afternoon said it will reduce its workforce in 2009 by about 4,000 jobs, including 3,000 position in its mobile devices business and the rest in corporate functions and other business units. These cuts are in addition to the reduction of 3,000 jobs during Q4 2008. The company said the job cuts disclosed today combined with previous layoffs announced in December will save the company a combined $700 million in 2009. Combined with other cost-cutting steps, Motorola said, the company should save an aggregate $1.5 billion in expenses in 2009. Meanwhile, the company also issued a Q4 earnings warning. (I was wondering when that was coming.) Motorola said it shipped 19 million handsets in the quarter, down sharply from 25.4 million in Q3, and 28 million in Q2. (The company suffered a 6.4 million sequential unit in the quarter, a 25.2% drop; at that rate, by the end of this year the company will be selling zero phones.) Motorola sees revenue for the quarter of $7 billion to ... (link)