CHICAGO (AP) - Motorola Inc. is getting significantly smaller - again - in pursuit of the profitability it maintains it will achieve again in 2002 after a 1 1/2-year losing streak.
The struggling technology giant, hamstrung since 2000 by a weakened economy and operating problems of its own making, is trimming another 9,400 jobs in the latest of a series of sweeping cuts.
The cell phone and semiconductor manufacturer said the most recent move Tuesday will improve its efficiency and, combined with semiconductor plant closings and other measures, result in about $1 billion in annual cost savings. But company executives also indicated they expect two more money-losing quarters after this one, making it six straight in the red, before an anticipated return to profitability in next year's third quarter.
The new shakeup further extends the third restructuring since 1998 for the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company, whose comeback efforts have been offset by troubles in the world economy.
The once-leading cell phone maker has posted small market-share gains in that slowed industry in recent months, with a slew of new phones helping it to slightly narrow the huge deficit with dominant Nokia. But industry experts remained skeptical about Motorola's latest claim that its recovery measures will soon pay off.
``Three years of restructuring, and now it looks like four,'' said analyst Brian Modoff of Deutsche Banc Alex Brown.
In (cell phone) handsets they've made some improvement. But it's a technology conglomerate and there are a lot of things going on,'' he said. They clearly have a lot more work ahead of them in a challenging and competitive environment.''
The clearest sign of new obstacles on the path to recovery: The company said its first-quarter loss will be greater than expected, 11 cents to 14 cents.
Wall Street was not impressed. Motorola's shares fell 61 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $16 a share in early trading Wednesday morning on the New York Stock Exchange. Top competitors Nokia, Ericsson Telephone and Siemens also saw their stocks sink, particularly on concerns about Motorola's signal that 2002 sales could fall 10 percent.
Motorola, which disclosed the cuts while also announcing that its fourth-quarter guidance remains unchanged from October, is lopping another 8 percent of employees off its payrolls all told. The company has now shrunk its work force by 32 percent - 42,900 jobs through layoffs and 5,500 through sales of businesses - since it stood at 150,000 worldwide in August 2000, evidently leaving a little more than 107,000 after the announced cuts occur.
The new job reductions, to be made over the course of the next year, include 4,000 from its semiconductor operations, 1,300 from its equipment manufacturing businesses and another 4,100 distributed companywide.
After thousands of layoffs earlier in the year in Motorola's cell phone and pager business, the Austin, Texas-headquartered semiconductor unit appears to take the brunt of the latest announced layoffs. The company said the semiconductor employees losing their jobs work at unspecified manufacturing facilities that the company plans to phase out in 2002.
That continues a policy of shutting down older plants and investing more heavily in advanced technology lines, a strategy that resulted in the announcement in August that two semiconductor manufacturing lines in Arizona would be eliminated.
Christopher Galvin, chairman and chief executive officer, said he regretted the continuing layoffs but sees them as necessary for a ``leaner, more flexible and more profitable company'' in an unpredictable global environment. He expects the company to be profitable for full-year 2002.
Motorola officials said on a conference call that the company's cell phone market share increased by 4 percent this year and that they expect it to continue rising.
``Next year, we have a lot of fresh products and new opportunities,'' said chief operating officer Robert Growney, referring to phones that will use so-called 2.5G and 3G digital technology.
