Lenovo to cut 3,200 jobs as Motorola handset sales slide

Beijing

CHINA'S Lenovo Group Ltd will lay off 10 per cent of white-collar staff after sales of Motorola handsets fell by a third, raising doubts over the personal computer (PC) giant's bet that a money-losing brand it bought for nearly US$3 billion will help it become a global smartphone leader.

Shares in the world's biggest maker of PCs slid nearly 9 per cent on Thursday after it said that its quarterly net profit was halved as its mobile division lost nearly US$300 million. Lenovo, which uses the US dollar in operations rather than the recently devalued Chinese yuan, said that it plans to cut about 3,200 non-manufacturing jobs with a one-time cost of US$600 million.