Google Job Cuts to Nick Moto's Cable Unit

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG)'s plan to slash 4,000 jobs is focused on turning around the company's cellphone business, but cuts at its cable-focused Home division will also factor into the 20 percent workforce reduction. (See Motorola's Home Unit Hires New Leader .)

"Motorola Home is included in the global number," a company spokeswoman said via email. "We are not breaking down the numbers, but the impact on Horsham is minimal."

That's a reference to Horsham, Pa., the headquarters of Motorola Home, the unit that makes cable modems, set-tops and access broadband equipment. Marwan Fawaz, a former CTO of Charter Communications Inc. and Adelphia Communications , now runs the Home unit as executive vice president. He started on June 28, taking over for former Motorola Mobility president Dan Moloney, who left in mid-July to "pursue other opportunities." Motorola Home CTO Geoff Roman has also exited the company. (See Motorola's Home Unit Hires New Leader .)

Motorola Home has yet to make any significant changes, though industry sources familiar with the plan say some sizable tweaks will soon be in order as Google gets ready to put Home on the block. That process is expected to get started as early as this fall, with one source in M&A circles telling Light Reading Cable that Google may be able to fetch in the neighborhood of $2 billion by selling Home as a whole or by carving it up into individual pieces. (See Light Reading Poll: Who Will Take Motorola Home? and Google Preps Sale of Motorola Home.)

A small number of Motorola Home field engineers were recently reassigned to Telecommunication Support Services Inc. (TSS), a Melbourne, Fla.-based company that outsources engineering work for service providers and vendors. However, Motorola said that process was underway before Google purchased the company. (See Google Unloads Some Moto Engineers.)

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable