Motorola The Falling Star

In the past I have had minimal dealings with the Motorola organization and each time their arrogance left me with a desire to find someone else to work with. I only grieve for the workers being jettisoned from this sinking ship.

From InternetNews.com: “Gartner's market analysis for mobile handset makers, released today, now rates Motorola (NYSE: MOT) in fourth place behind Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson in global sales.”
Motorola Slips in Worldwide Sales

From the chicagotribune.com: “Motorola reported a net loss of $397 million, or 18 cents a share, in the third quarter, down from a net profit of $60 million, or 3 cents a share, in the same period last year.”
Motorola posts hefty 3Q loss, delays spinoff

From USA Today: ”The maker of communications gear said it would get rid of 3,000 jobs by April, with about 2,000 of them coming from the cellphone unit. The company last announced 2,600 job cuts in April.”
Motorola posts big loss, plans to cut 3,000 jobs

From cnet.com: “The iconic American technology company Motorola is in big trouble. But can a last ditch effort by a new top executive help the company pull one of the biggest comebacks in American business history?”
Motorola's struggle for survival

From BusinessWeek: “The company's falling star at AT&T, the largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier, underscores Motorola's persistent failure to release handsets that grab the attention of consumers and the service providers whose marketing is crucial to sales.”
Motorola's Market Share Mess

From rerwireless.com: “It will eliminate about 120 of the 600 positions in Motorola Labs, the unit responsible for basic research in everything from cellphones to radio technology,…”
Moto to cut jobs from R&D unit

More thin gray line articles

Who Says Inflation Is Under Control

Consumer late payments at 16 year high. Could higher prices at the grocery check-out and at the fuel pump be putting the squeeze on our wallets?

Unemployment claims at there highest level in two years.

ATA Airlines shuts down stranding thousands and laying off 2,000. The cost of fuel was listed as one of the primary causes. Last week Aloha Airlines also shut-down operations.

Corn sets new record price of $6 per bushel. At least our all-knowing government officials tell us that inflation is under control.

Gasoline at new national record. Even with oil backing off there peaks, the cost of refined gasoline is starting its summer rise. Every spring refiners increase their crack spread (the mark-up on gasoline) to reflect the increase in demand. This process has just started.

Motorola disconnecting 2,600 more. Last year they had lay offs of 3,500 in January and 4,000 in May. During a cutting stretch in 2000 and 2001 their payroll shrank by more than 47,000 jobs.

Google planning to cut 25% in the Double-Click work force, in the U.S. that is.

Dell needs to find $3 billion more in cuts than the 8,800 they announced last year. From my article last July.

Merrill Lynch to lay off 4,000 to 7,000.

Schering-Plough will be cutting $1.5 billion a year in expenses, no estimate on how many jobs will be lost. Schering-Plough shares are down about 50 percent this year so heads have to roll.

Are you ready to pay for the poor Home Builders losses? Time to E-mail your congressmen.

NASA estimates as many as 7,300 will loose their jobs as the shuttle program ends in the next 2 ½ years.

La-Z-Boy is shipping jobs to Mexico, all of their cut and sew divisions will be relocated with no lay off estimates given.

Hamiliton Sundstrand will be completing its move to Singapore by lying off the last 65.

United Way officials in Dayton said record numbers of families are seeking emergency food assistance because of lay offs caused by the strike at Detroit-based American Axle & Manufacturing. My article: American Axle Moving More Jobs Out Of The U.S.

CBS Moves Ahead With Layoffs in News

1,500 Possible Layoffs at Freightliner Cleveland Plant. My previous article: Freightliner The Long Haul From North Carolina To Mexico

From the CoStar web site that monitors the Fed’s watch list:

The Federal Reserve Banks moved up the planned closing of several of its check processing facilities, most of the cuts will come from permanent result work reductions.

Newsweek announced that 111 staffers on its news and business sides in New York City accepted a buyout last week.

Chromcraft Revington Inc. is progressively shifting manufacturing of products from its Delphi, IN, plant at 1100 N. Washington St. to suppliers primarily in Asia. Manufacturing activities at the Delphi facility will conclude on May 30. The reduction in force is expected to impact approximately 150 Associates at the Delphi location. Within the past 18 months, the company has closed and sold its plants in Sumter, SC, and Warrenton, NC, as well as its warehouse and distribution center in Knoxville, TN. The company also relocated its upholstery operations into its existing facilities in Lincolnton, NC, and sold its upholstery plant.

EMI Christian Music Group confirms layoffs of between 1,500 to 2,000 staffers by this June.

Long-expected layoffs begin at W.Va. steel mill, from a peak of 13,000 to 1,000 after these latest cuts. Steel mills have been devastated throughout the northeast by Asian steel and like most of the problems facing America; all the politicians do is use this issue as political fodder.

Earlier this week, Wheeling-Pitt's parent, Esmark Inc., announced it would shut down a mill in Allenport, Pa., and idle parts of the operation in Martins Ferry, Ohio. Those cuts could cost as many as 360 jobs.

Analysts see 200,000 banking industry layoffs in the next 18 months.

Whirlpool, a great old Mexican brand. 350 Cleveland jobs go to Mexico. Behr Climate Systems plans layoffs, plant closure. From the Germany based Behr Groups web site: “Today we are active in all major markets in Asia and take advantage of the opportunities they offer.”

Motorola, I need your help answering the following questions.

In 2000 Motorola had total global employment of 150,000 and currently they post their global employment at 66,000. What was their U.S. employment numbers currently and in 2000?

I also need employment numbers, global & U.S., for the following companies at the time Motorola purchased, sold or spun them off.

Good Technology, November, 2006
Symbol Technologies, January, 2007
Netopia, February, 2007
Tut systems, March, 2007

In September, 2001 Motorola spun off its government and defense business to General Dynamics and in 2003 they spun off there semiconductor product sector. What was their employment numbers?

Were there any other companies acquired between 2001 & 2006?

Motorola History Of Layoffs

On January, 23 2002 IDG reporters George A. Chidi Jr. and Douglas F. Gray wrote:

“Motorola, which had 150,000 employees in August 2000, will have eliminated 42,900 jobs and transferred 5,500 employees by the end of this year, the company said in December.”

This year Motorola has announced 3,500 layoffs in January and 4,000 at the end of May.

There is more to this story, please see the above article and give us a hand.

Sprint, Motorola, Nortel & Kodak Plan Major Cutbacks – In People

Kodak: 30,000

From Ben Dobbin, AP Business Writer writes an interesting article about Kodak. They are adding an additional 3,000 layoffs to the previously announced 27,000 planned for this year. That comes on the heals of 23,000 already sent packing.

At its peak in 1988 Kodak employed 145,000 and after the cuts planned for 2007 will employ 29,000. At the end of these cuts Kodak will have shrunk by 80%.

Sprint: 5,000

This is a different story, in an InformationWeek story by Elena Malykhina Sprint plans to cut 5,000 of its staff. As quoted by Ms. Malykhina:

“Sprint is the most ambitious of the four major U.S. cellular carriers, acquiring Nextel for $35 billion and making bets on emerging technologies like WiMax. But with costs up, customers unhappy, and layoffs imminent, the No. 3 U.S. cellular carrier may have taken on more than it can handle.”

The recent breakout of the video blogging and pod casts, has caused carriers to throw out any previous projections concerning bandwidth requirements. With the consumer now demanding substantially more bandwidth networks have to be reworked before they are even finished. From an article in The Guardian titled Rise of video downloads threatens gridlock on net:

"The growth in video downloads could create an internet traffic jam that threatens the net's development, according to Google."

Motorola: 3,500

Motorola has announced layoffs of 3,500 after having a record breaking 4th quarter where sales of handsets rose 47%. Unfortunately profits went the other way by 48%. Motorola does so many different things and has been on a buying spree lately that the poor results have to be answered somewhere, or by 3,500 some ones.

Nortel: 2,900

Nortel, a Canadian Company with a 2,600 worker plant in the Research Triangle Park of the Raleigh/Durham, area has announced layoffs of 2,900. The specific locations of the proposed layoffs weren’t given but the company has indicated plans to cut spending in the R& D and administration areas.