Cellphone maker Motorola will lay off 700 of its 1,600 employees in its Beijing research and development centre, in a cull of up to 1,000 workers across the country, according to a mainland media report.
Business news site Caixin said that according to a lay-off plan it had seen, Motorola's Nanjing research and development centre, which has 500 staff, would also be shuttered and the Shanghai branch office closed.
About 200 Motorola employees protested in Beijing near the company's office building yesterday, calling it a "violent laying-off".
One employee told online news portal Sina that he received notice last Monday about the lay-off plan. The next day he was required to sign an agreement terminating his work contract. "There is no room for discussion," the employee said.
Yang Changlong, an industry analyst at Beijing's Bayes Consulting, said Motorola was in an awkward place in the mainland market. "Their branding is [old], the price is high, and the products have no attractive qualities," Yang said.
Samsung is the leader in the mainland's high-end mobile phone market, while domestic players, including Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo, dominate the low-end.