Motorola Mobility set for more cuts

Motorola Mobility's parent, Lenovo, plans to cut more workers from its phone business that once operated in Libertyville.

Lenovo said it plans to cut its 55,000 global workforce by about 2 percent, or about 1,000 workers.

The majority of the affected positions are part of the ongoing integration between Lenovo and its Motorola Mobility smartphone business, said Motorola spokeswoman Kathryn Hanley.

She could not say exactly how many cuts are being made on the Motorola Mobility side. "It is not our practice to break these numbers out by geographies or business functions," Hanley said. "The job reductions will be across-the-board from all areas of Lenovo, except our data center group."

Lenovo bought Motorola Mobility from Google and then moved its headquarters from Libertyville to downtown Chicago in 2014. The staff has endured several rounds of layoffs since Motorola Mobility initially separated from Motorola Inc. in 2011. Around that time, Motorola Mobility had as many as 20,000 workers worldwide, including about 3,000 in Libertyville.

Lenovo said it is "making adjustments in other areas of the business" to manage costs and improve financial performance, Hanley said.

"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," she said.

Still, Lenovo said it is "absolutely committed" to Chicago and said its Motorola Mobility headquarters will remain in the city.

"Chicago has a well-deserved reputation for technical excellence and as the hub of our global research and development for our smartphone business we expect to take advantage of local talent to continue developing Moto products there," Hanley said.