Lenovo said it will cut more than 1,000 jobs primarily from its Motorola Mobility business “as the company further aligns its organization and streamlines its product portfolio to best compete in the global smartphone market.”
The Chinese parent company confirmed to FierceWireless that the move would affect “less than two percent” of its worldwide workforce of 55,000 people, or 1,100 jobs. The layoffs are part of a broader effort to improve the bottom line.
“The company is also making adjustments in other areas of the business as part of a continued effort to manage costs, drive efficiency and support ongoing improvement in overall financial performance,” Lenovo said in a prepared statement. “While these actions are never easy, they are a necessary part of our continued efforts to ensure long-term, profitable growth across all of our businesses.”
Like many of its rivals, Lenovo continues to be challenged in a worldwide smartphone market where growth has slowed as major markets reach saturation and as upgrade cycles have lengthened. Last year the company announced roughly 3,200 layoffs in its non-manufacturing workforce around the world, equaling roughly 5 percent of its total headcount. In March Motorola President Rick Osterloh said he would leave the company as Lenovo restructured its organization and divided its mobile efforts into two primary business groups. And Lenovo was knocked out of the list of top five smartphone vendors worldwide in the first quarter of 2016, IDC said earlier this year, as Chinese upstarts Oppo and Vivo saw sales surge.
Lenovo appears to be gaining ground in at least one major emerging market, however. IDC reported earlier this month that the company was the second-biggest smartphone brand in terms of value in India, outpacing Apple, Micromax and Oppo with a market share of 9.1 percent.
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