To: Sully- who wrote (46001 ) 1/8/2002 5:42:44 PM From: stockman_scott Respond to of 65232 Motorola layoffs hit executives January 08, 2002 Crain's Chicago Business by Ellen Almer In a move to reduce what many analysts call a bloated executive suite, Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. confirmed Tuesday it will cut 20% of its top 600 executives across the board as part of a previously announced layoff. The cuts come amid the electronic giant's much-publicized struggles to compete in its cellular phone and semiconductor divisions, and just after the company posted its first annual loss since the Great Depression. Since it began faltering about 18 months ago, Motorola has cut about 48,000 workers, but this represents the first cut of executives. Analysts, calling the company top-heavy, had predicted the executive cuts for some time. They said cutting top managers would be at least a symbolic gesture to the company's rank-and-file workers (ChicagoBusiness.com, Dec. 19). A company spokeswoman on Tuesday said executives losing their jobs—those with the title of vice-president or higher—are now being identified and will be laid off by the end of March; the cuts are part of the 9,400-employee layoff announced last month. On Monday, the company said 700 to 800 workers at a Hong Kong semiconductor-chip making plant were also being cut as part of its previously announced layoff plans. When Motorola announced the cuts in December, it said it could save $865 million. However, financial information on the company's Web site at the time showed that it needs to eliminate up to $1.36 billion in costs next year in order to meet a profit target of 15 cents per share (Crain's, Dec. 24, 2001). How Motorola intends to trim the extra costs is unclear, as officials have not yet outlined their strategy. But, given the company's forecast of a 5%-to-10% drop in revenue next year and its history of having higher-than-industry-average manufacturing costs, analysts say Motorola will have little choice but to lay off more workers to achieve at least part of the costs savings.