Motorola, Dell May Slash Jobs by Thousands to Reduce Costs

Motorola, one of the largest manufacturers in semiconductors and cellphones, is expected to cut off 4,000 jobs from its semiconductor operations by the end of the year in a bid to boost profitability, the Associated Press reported on Friday.

AP quoted Fred Shlapak, president of the semiconductor products sector, as saying that some of the job cuts will take place by the end of March while others will occur later in the year.

"While job reductions are extremely painful, they are a necessary part of our cost-reduction needs," Shlapak said.

Orders for Motorola's semiconductor product have decreased by 19 percent despite its semiconductor sales rose 7 percent in the fourth quarter to 1.9 billion dollars, totaling 7.9 billion dollars for the year.

This will be the third round of layoffs following the company's elimination of 2,500 jobs at its cellphone manufacturing facility in Harvard, Ill. last month, and 2,870 job cuts in Iowa, Florida and Ireland in December.

Motorola, whose shares were down 61 cents to 19.21 dollars in early afternoon trading on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, has yet to specify the locations for the impending job cuts.

Meanwhile, Dell Computer Corp., one of the computer tycoons in the world, is also stepping up its efforts to cut expenses that could include the first layoffs in the company's 16-year history, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

In a way of raising efficiency to fight back industry slowdown, Dell has stopped most hiring, barred travels unrelated to sales calls , and cut some marketing programs, the newspaper said.

Some employees expected that the company could be preparing to reduce as many as 4,000 positions through a mix of outright job cuts and an annual performance review, beginning as early as next week, the Journal reported.

In February every year, Dell dismisses or places on probation anyone of its 39,000 full-time employees who are ranked at the bottom of a five-layer performance review system.

"We've made clear we're going to manage expenses throughout the business. We recognize analysts and others are expecting us to do it," a Dell spokesman was quoted as saying.

Chief Executive Michael S. Dell said last month that the company would cut costs to improve profit margins as it wouldn't meet Wall Street analysts' earnings forecasts for the fourth quarter ended February 2.

Dell, which has been engaged in a price war to elbow out weaker rivals and grab more market share, projected a profit of 18 cents to 19 cents a diluted share, well below 25 cents a share expected by Wall Street analysts, though its revenue is expected to increase 26 percent to 8.6 billion dollars, newspapers said.






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