ARRIS Group, a Suwanee-based broadband cable equipment supplier, has laid off 500 workers across its national and international operations following its recent $2.35 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility’s home business from Google, the company said Friday.
The company said there was a “very, very minimal impact” at its Atlanta-area operations, although it did not provide a specific figure.
“The steps we took this week were to ensure our long-term competitive position. As always, these decisions regarding employment and operations will be driven by business needs and marketplace demands,” company spokeswoman Jeanne Russo said.
ARRIS’ purchase of Motorola Mobility’s home business in April boosted its total employment from 2,100 workers in 20 countries to more than 7,000 worldwide.
As with many mergers, companies often cut jobs that overlap.
“Our goal from Day One has been to bring the new ARRIS together with fully realized synergies as quickly and thoughtfully as possible. To that end, we are taking steps to drive organizational efficiencies and align our business teams in core locations to maximize collaboration, cost efficiencies and proximity to our customers,” Russo said.
Executives said they hoped to save between $100 million and $125 million with the combined company. The targeted savings areas include supply chain, research and development and general administrative expenses.
“We understand how hard these changes will be for the employees concerned,” Russo said. “ARRIS is committed to helping them through this difficult transition and will be providing severance packages, as well as outplacement services.” Russo said “a mix” of ARRIS and Motorola employees were laid off.
ARRIS said it paid Google $2.2 billion in cash and issued the search engine company 10.6 million shares of its common stock to acquire Motorola Mobility’s home business. ARRIS also sold 10.6 million shares to Comcast Corp., the cable TV provider, to help pay for the deal.
ARRIS said Google and Comcast now each hold about 7.7 percent of its outstanding shares.
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