Motorola to shutter Singapore factory

Motorola Inc. will stop making handsets in Singapore by the end of the year to reduce costs, cutting 700 jobs.

The company will start shutting down the facilities from the second quarter, Mary Lamb, a Hong Kong-based company spokeswoman, said Wednesday.

The decision is part of a "strategic review of business operations, which includes a previously announced global $500 million cost-reduction initiative," Schaumburg-based Motorola said in an e-mailed statement.

Chief Executive Officer Greg Brown, 47, who took over from Ed Zander in January after Motorola lost market share to Nokia Oyj and Samsung Electronics Co., said in January the company had started to cut costs in an effort bring down expenses by $500 million. He didn't say how many jobs would be affected.

Motorola will continue to base its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, where it has research and software development centers, the statement said.

On March 26, Motorola announced plans to split into two companies next year amid pressure from billionaire investor Carl Icahn to spin off the mobile-phone business it pioneered 25 years ago. The handset division lost $1.2 billion last year as revenue from phones slid 33 percent.

Videocon Group, India's largest consumer electronics maker, Tuesday said it may offer to buy Motorola's mobile-phone business. Motorola's Lamb declined to comment.