Motorola taking $101M 2Q charge for cuts

Motorola Inc., the world's No. 2 cell-phone maker behind Nokia Corp., said it will take a pretax charge of $101 million in its second quarter after cutting 2,100 jobs.

The company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Thursday that the total consists of $115 million in layoff-related charges and $14 million in reversals for prior-period accruals that it no longer needs.

Motorola said in May that it would complete an already-announced plan to lay off 3,500 employees by June 30. At that time, the cell phone maker also said it would cut another 4,000 jobs.

The Schaumburg-based company has been struggling since last fall when it became clear that its strategy of boosting market share by aggressively cutting its phone prices had backfired and was hurting profit margins significantly. The company this spring posted its first quarterly loss since 2004.

The company hopes a new cell phone lineup, anchored by the Razr 2, along with a restructuring plan, will help engineer a turnaround.

Motorola shares rose 4 cents to $17.84 Friday. The stock price is off more than 30 percent since last October.