NEW YORK: Internet giant Google on Monday said it plans to lay off about 4,000 employees at Motorola, a cellphone maker it purchased in May, in order to return the company to profitability.

“While we expect this strategy to create new opportunities and help return Motorola's mobile devices unit to profitability, we understand how hard these changes will be for the employees concerned,” a company spokesperson told AFP.

According to The New York Times, the reorganization plan calls for laying off about 20 percent of Motorola's workforce and closing a third of its 94 offices worldwide.

About two-thirds of the affected 4,000 jobs will be lost outside of the United States, according to the report.

The company plans to leave unprofitable markets, stop making low-end devices and reduce the number of cellphone models it is producing, the paper said.

The Google spokesperson said help will be provided to those whose jobs were being cut.

“Motorola is committed to helping them through this difficult transition and will be providing generous severance packages, as well as outplacement services to help people find new jobs,” the spokesperson said.