Motorola Inc., the world's second-largest mobile phone maker, announced on Friday that it will cut 3,500 jobs after fourth-quarter profit slid 48 percent.

Motorola Inc. CEO Ed Zander, said the move will save the company about 400 million dollars over two years.

The cuts of 3,500 jobs, representing about 5 percent of the workforce, are to be spread across the company globally and completed in the first half of 2007, according to the company.

The reductions are the biggest by Motorola since 2002 and may help the company absorb price declines that reduced profit for the past two quarters.

"As I said earlier this month, we are disappointed with our fourth-quarter operating earnings performance," Zander said in a statement.

Motorola said its fourth-quarter profit profits dropped by 48 percent from a year earlier. Sales in the quarter gained 17 percent to 11.8 billion dollars, in line with the company's preliminary results released Jan. 4.

Source: Xinhua