Motorola To Slash 4,000 More Jobs

"The actions we are taking today in our mobile devices business will allow us to further reduce our cost structure and positions us for improved financial performance in 2009," said Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola, in a statement.

The cuts come on the heels of a previous layoff announcement of 3,000 jobs in the handset unit and other areas, first announced by Motorola in October. Cutting an additional 4,000, the company said, would save about $700 million in 2009, which adds to the $800 million in savings it expects from the previous cuts.

The company also announced preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2008, including that Motorola had shipped approximately 19 million units during the quarter and that total sales for the quarter would be in the $7.0 to $7.2 billion range. Previous analyst expectations for Motorola's fourth quarter were about $7.5 billion. Motorola's announced numbers do not take into account any restructuring charges, according to the statement.

Representatives from Motorola could not be reached by Channelweb.com on Wednesday.

Motorola has been steadily losing phone market share throughout the past year, and in 2008 had to put on hold plans to split off its mobile division from the rest of the business. In December, the company announced it would reduce its CEOs' salaries, freeze its U.S. pension plans as of March 1, 2009, and temporarily suspend company matching contributions to employee 401(k) plans.

Motorola will officially announce its fourth quarter results on Feb. 3.