Google, which has been growing for more than a decade, doesn’t have a history of mass layoffs. In previous rounds of layoffs, Google at most had cut a few hundred workers.
Motorola, however, cut thousands of jobs in recent years as its cellphone division saw sales plummet. Although it pioneered the U.S. cellphone industry in the 1980s, it hasn’t produced a mass-market hit since it introduced the Razr cellphone in 2004. Once the second-largest phone maker in the world, Motorola no longer ranks in the top 5.
Motorola now makes phones that run on Google’s Android operating software, but rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. have been more successful at it.