(By Balachander) Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) will lay off roughly 4,000 employees at its Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. unit, which the search-engine giant acquired for around $12.5 billion.
In a regulatory filing, Google said one-third of the 20 percent reduction in headcount will be in the United States.
Google sees these changes, which also includes closing of nearly a third of Motorola's offices, as a key step for the unit to achieve sustainable profitability.
Google expects to record a charge of no greater than $275 million in 2012 as a result of the changes.
Motorola's mobile devices unit has lost money in fourteen of the last sixteen quarters and the actions is intended to simplify its mobile product portfolio, Google said.
That said, investors should expect to see significant revenue variability for Motorola for several quarters, Google disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In May, Google closed the $40-a-share acquisition of Mobility Holdings to supercharge the Android ecosystem and enhance competition in mobile computing.
Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.
GOOG ended previous trading session at $642.00.