Motorola Mobility To Leave South Korea Next Year

Motorola Mobility will exit South Korea next year as part of its reorganization that has been ongoing since Google purchased the company. The only employees that Motorola Mobility will retain from the operations in South Korea include roughly 10% of its local research and development staff. Those people will be offered relocation packages.

The restructuring will claim over 500 jobs in South Korea. Only the mobile devices segment of Motorola is leaving South Korea, two other business divisions including the Home Business and iDEN go-to-market will remain. So far, the restructuring after Google purchased the mobility portion of Motorola has resulted in 4000 employees losing their jobs and the discontinuation of most of Motorola mobility's international websites.

Motorola Mobility notes that it began notifying staff in Korea today that it plans to cease most operations within Korea. Motorola Mobility also declined to give any additional details on exactly how many employees are losing their jobs. The company did say that the 10% number refers to R&D staff only. However, the company confirms that R&D staff is the majority of the staff at the locations in South Korea.

Motorola Mobility says that closing operations in South Korea is part of its plan to consolidate its research and development operations. The move is also hoped to help Motorola Mobility focus its attention on markets where it can compete most effectively.

[via TheNextWeb]