谷歌拟在摩托罗拉移动裁员4000人

Google is planning to cut about 4,000 jobs at Motorola Mobility and shift the company’s focus to producing high-end smartphones as it tries to return the lossmaking handset manufacturer to profitability.

谷歌(Google)正计划在摩托罗拉移动(Motorola Mobility)裁员约4000人，并将该企业的重心放到制造高端智能手机上，以期让这家亏损的手机制造商恢复盈利。

The cuts represent about 20 per cent of the workforce at Motorola Mobility, which Google acquired in a $12.5bn deal last year. Two-thirds of the redundancies will be made outside the US.

4000人相当于摩托罗拉移动员工人数的20%左右。谷歌去年斥资125亿美元将这家企业收入囊下。三分之二裁员将落在美国以外地区。

The handset business will also close about a third of its 90 facilities around the world and simplify its product range.

摩托罗拉移动还将把全球90处经营设施关闭三分之一左右，并简化产品范围。

Google said it was “shifting the emphasis from feature phones to more innovative and profitable devices, meaning more complex smartphones that can be used to surf the internet.

谷歌表示，摩托罗拉移动正在“将重心从多功能手机转移到更富有创新性、利润更高的设备上，后者指可以用来上网的更复杂的智能手机。

“While we expect this strategy to create new opportunities and help return Motorola’s mobile devices unit to profitability, we understand how hard these changes will be for the employees concerned, Motorola Mobility said.

摩托罗拉移动表示：“尽管我们期待这一战略将创造新的机会，帮助摩托罗拉移动恢复盈利，但我们理解这些变化带给有关员工多么大的困难。

“Motorola is committed to helping them through this difficult transition and will be providing generous severance packages, as well as outplacement services to help people find new jobs.

“摩托罗拉一定会帮助他们度过难关。我们将提供丰厚的遣散费，并将介绍新职、以帮助他们找到新工作。

Google said severance costs would be no more than $275m, to be recognised in the third quarter.

谷歌表示，遣散费成本将不高于2.75亿美元。该成本将在第三季度的报表中确认。

Cutting production of low-value phones will be essential in turning round the fortunes of the handset business. Last month, Google’s first quarterly report with Motorola Mobility included in results showed that the handset maker contributed $1.25bn in second-quarter revenue, but had losses of $233m.

削减低价值手机生产，对于扭转摩托罗拉移动的命运将是至关重要的。上月，谷歌将摩托罗拉移动收入旗下后发布的第一份季报显示，摩托罗拉移动为谷歌第二季度的营收贡献了12.5亿美元，但亏损2.33亿美元。

Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility has put the company head to head with Applein the battle for smartphones, with both companies controlling the hardware and software for their platforms.

收购摩托罗拉移动令谷歌与苹果(Apple)在智能手机市场发生正面交锋。对于各自的平台，两家企业都既控制了硬件又控制了软件。

While Google’s Android operating system is already widely used on smartphones made by companies including Samsungand HTC, owning its own handset manufacturing company is expected to give Google a deeper insight into how mobile customers behave.

尽管谷歌的Android操作系统已被三星(Samsung)、宏达电(HTC)等企业生产的智能手机广泛使用，但拥有自己的手机制造企业预计会让谷歌更好地理解移动客户的行为方式。

Big technology groups, including Google, Facebookand Microsoft, are trying to work out the best ways of transferring their businesses models to the mobile phone, as consumers shift from accessing the internet on a desktop PC to going online with a mobile device.

随着消费者上网方式由个人电脑(PC)向移动设备转变，谷歌、Facebook和微软(Microsoft)等大型技术集团正试图找出将各自经营模式移植到手机上的最佳方式。