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Google to Cut 20% of Motorola Mobility's Work Force: Hot Trends

Written by: Brittany Umar 08/13/12 - 8:13 AM EDT
Tickers in this article: BAC BKS GOOG AMZN

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Popular searches on the Internet include Google(GOOG) after news the company will cut 20% of the work force at Motorola Mobility.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Google indicated the cuts are an attempt to return the unit back to profitability. The unit has lost money in 14 of the last 16 quarters, according to Google. Google added that Motorola will be providing "generous severance packages" to employees as well as outplacement services.

Google expects to take a $275 million charge related to the severances in the third quarter. It said it expects to record the rest of the severance-related costs by the end of the year.

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Google bought Motorola Mobility last year for $12.5 billion.

Barnes & Noble(BKS) is trending as it is cutting the prices of three models of its Nook tablet.

The book retailer announced the 8-gigabyte model of the Nook tablet will now be priced at $179, down from $199. Its 16-gigabyte Nook tablet will also see its price slashed to $199 from $249, and the price of the Nook Color will be lowered to $149 from $169.

The less expensive versions of the Nook now undercut the price of Amazon.com's(AMZN) Kindle Fire, which sells for $199 with 6 gigabytes of memory.

Barnes & Noble has cut prices of its tablet several times in order to stay competitive.

Julius Baer is another popular search. The Swiss private bank is set to buy the wealth management business outside the U.S. belonging to Bank of America's(BAC) Merrill Lynch.

Julius Baer will pay 860 million Swiss francs ($882 million) for the business, which manages roughly $84 billion of assets. According to the deal, Julius Baer will oversee an additional $74 billion of assets from wealthy clients in developing countries.

The company plans to pay for the acquisition through a $770 million rights offering, in addition to existing cash reserves.

Investors did not welcome the news, as shares of Julius Baer fell nearly 6% in morning trading in Zurich.