Motorola Mobility to close most operations in S. Korea

Computerworld - Motorola Mobility will close down most operations in South Korea in 2013 as part of an ongoing restructuring under Google ownership.

The decision is estimated to affect about 500 jobs in South Korea and follows a decision made a month ago to close down most international Motorola websites and to lay off about 4,000 workers.

Motorola Mobility said in a statement that it began telling staff in South Korea on Monday about "plans to close most of our operations in Korea, including our research and development and consumer mobile device marketing organization."

The statement said the changes "reflect our plans to consolidate our global R&D efforts to foster collaboration, and to focus more attention on markets where we are best positioned to compete effectively."

The statement was first reported by The Next Web early Monday.

Google purchased Motorola Mobility in May for $12.5 billion.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His email address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

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