Morning business round-up: Motorola to cut 4,000 jobs
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What made the business news in Asia and Europe this morning? Here's our daily business round-up:
Mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility is to cut 4,000 staff around the world as part of a restructuring programme.
That is the equivalent of 20% of its workforce, and two-thirds of the jobs will go outside of the US.
The US-based firm, bought by Google last year, said it planned to close or merge about one third of its 90 facilities.
Motorola also announced a shift in emphasis away from low-cost non-smartphones to what it described as "more innovative and profitable devices".
Japan's economic growth slowed in the second quarter as the eurozone crisis hurt exports and domestic consumption remained subdued.
Gross domestic product grew by 0.3% during the period from the previous three months. That is down from 1% growth in the first quarter.
Compared with the same period last year, the economy expanded by 1.4%.
Analysts warned that Japan's growth may slow further in coming months amid an uncertain global economic climate.
BlueScope and Nippon Steel, Australia and Japan's biggest steelmakers, have announced a $1.4bn (£890mn) joint venture in a bid to capture greater market share.
The Australian firm has agreed to sell 50% of its South East Asian and North American building products business to Nippon for $540m in cash.
The proceeds are expected to help ease BlueScope's debt burden.
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Net profit for the six months to the end of June came in at 3.13bn euros ($3.84bn; £2.45bn), up from 948m euros in the same period last year.
The results were flattered by a big charge that the company took in the first half of 2011 relating to Germany's accelerated phasing out of nuclear energy.
E.On also benefited from a gas price settlement with Russia's Gazprom.
Easyjet's founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is trying to oust Sir Michael Rake as company chairman, arguing his Barclays role will keep him too busy.
Sir Michael is also deputy chairman of Barclays, which is reeling from the Libor rate-fixing scandal.
Sir Stelios says Barclays will take up too much of Sir Michael's time and he will not be able to give enough attention to the airline.
A vote on the issue will take place at a shareholder meeting later.
The latest Business Daily programme from the BBC World Service considers what will be the benefits of London 2012 for poor communities around the Olympic Park. It also looks at why Greek businesses fear the prospect of an exit from the euro.