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Motorola Mobility continued its slide under Google, posting a wider loss amid a decline in sales in the third quarter.
The business is in full turnaround mode under CEO and ex-Googler Dennis Woodside, but for now, the results are ugly. The unit posted an operating loss of $527 million, with the vast majority of that loss coming from its embattled handset division. A year ago, the unit posted an operating loss of $41 million.
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Excluding one-time items, Motorola posted an operating loss of $151 million.
Revenue, meanwhile, fell 14 percent to $2.58 billion. Unsurprisingly, the handset division was to blame.
The results were a part of Google’s earnings report, which was released prematurely today and showed the company had missed revenue expectations.
Motorola’s results ended up being one big reason why Google disappointed with its report, causing the stock to retreat nearly 10 percent today.
Motorola is just one of several once-powerful handset manufacturers struggling to stay afloat in the brutally competitive industry. Beyond Apple and Samsung Electronics, all of the other players are only seeing a slight profit to big losses.
Motorola, of course, is safely tucked into Google, and its losses aren’t going to offset the search giant’s massive profits. So, Motorola has a bit of time and flexibility, and doesn’t have shareholders to answer to. But the results show that even with Google’s support, Motorola has a long way to go to turning itself around.
Google has been working to shave the fat from Motorola, eliminating jobs and side projects and focusing on fewer devices. The company said today it hired 1,807 workers for Google, but eliminated 2,865 jobs at Motorola. Google recorded $349 million in charges related to the restructuring and job cuts.
Motorola has largely been propped up by the support of Verizon Wireless, which continues to push the Droid Razr franchise of smartphones. But it’s increasingly clear that one successful line of devices isn’t enough to get the unit back in the black.
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