Google is cutting 1,200 employees at Motorola Mobility as the handset vendor continues its struggle with financial losses, according to the Wall Street Journal. The job cuts are equivalent to more than 10 per cent of its workforce.

The report is based on an internal company email that said “our costs are too high, we’re operating in markets where we’re not competitive and we’re losing money”. The redundancies will impact workers in the US, China and India.

The latest job losses are in addition to a 20 per cent reduction in Motorola’s workforce, equivalent to 4,000 employees, that was announced in August last year.

At end-2012, Google said Motorola had a total of 11,113 employees, a figure which did not include the Motorola Home business, which manufactures TV set-top boxes, and was sold to the Arris Group in December 2012.

Motorola has continued to make operating losses since its acquisition by Google was completed in May last year. In its most recent quarterly results, the vendor posted a $353 million operating loss.

At the time Google warned that Motorola’s results would be variable for “quite a while” as its business is restructured. The aim is to focus Motorola on fewer markets with a slimmed down product portfolio.