Google is biting into the Motorola Mobility workforce again, this time planning to lay off 1,200 employees, i.e. about 10 percent of the division's workforce.

Motorola Mobility employees received an email this week informing them about the new round of layoffs.

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"While we're very optimistic about the new products in our pipeline, we still face challenges," reads the email according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the additional job cuts. "We're operating in markets where we're not competitive and we're losing money," the email further explains.

The new round of layoffs is expected to affect Motorola Mobility employees in the U.S., China, and India. The company disappeared entirely from South Korea last December. Motorola confirmed the job cuts in a statement to the media on Thursday, March 7.

"These cuts are a continuation of the reductions we announced last summer," confirms Motorola. "It's obviously very hard for the employees concerned, and we are committed to helping them through this difficult transition."

The company did not detail exactly how it plans to help the 1,200 million people who are about to lose their jobs. 

Google acquired Motorola Mobility last May in a $12.4 billion deal, mainly motivated by the chance to get a taste of Motorola's valuable patent trove. The deal proved to be quite fruitful for Google, as the search giant employed Motorola's patent portfolio in its legal defense of the Android operating system. Google acknowledged paying a premium for this access to patents, but the company has been looking to cut costs since the acquisition.

Google already ditched the Motorola Home set-top business it inherited as part of the acquisition, selling it to the Arris Group last December for $2.35 billion in cash and stock. The search giant reportedly pimped out the business for months before actually selling it.

Now, the new layoffs come a little over six months after Motorola cut 4,000 jobs, i.e. about 20 percent of its workforce in August 2012. The restructuring announced at the time included closing a third of the company's 94 offices, along with a wireless strategy revamp that involved exiting unprofitable markets and reducing the number of handsets it makes.

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