Motorola Mobility is to cut 20% of its workforce and shut nearly a third of its offices worldwide.

The mobile phone maker was bought by Google last year.

The search engine giant agreed to buy the group aiming to use Motorola patents to fend off legal attacks on its Android mobile platform and expand its software business.

One-third of the jobs lost will be in the United States of America.

However the company has not specified where or what facilities would be affected at its 94 offices around the world.

The firm has offices in the US, Canada, China, France and the UK among others.

“These changes are designed to return Motorola’s mobile devices unit to profitability, after it lost money in fourteen of the last 16 quarters” Google said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).