Motorola Mobility began laying off about 500 employees Thursday, cutting 25 percent of its Chicago workforce just over a year after moving from Libertyville into a new headquarters in the Merchandise Mart.

The size of the cuts is a blow to a tech scene and a mayor that cheer even the smallest job creations. Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration deemed Mobility a “major economic engine” when it moved its offices and 2,000 employees to the Merchandise Mart last year.

In March, Emanuel announced that Chicago's tech companies had pledged to fill 1,000 new jobs by the end of 2015.

Motorola Mobility, which invented the commercial cell phone only to later lag behind competitors including Apple, is owned by Beijing-based Lenovo.

Layoffs began Thursday in Chicago and will continue for the next few weeks, Motorola Mobility spokesman William Moss said. He said the Merchandise Mart headquarters space would likely be affected, though operations would remain there.

“We will continue to be in that office with a fairly substantial workforce and we will continue to have our labs in there,” Moss said. “Obviously we may not occupy quite the same amount as we did before.”

He added, “A situation like this is going to be difficult and painful regardless of the office you are in. That said, that is our home now and will continue to be, and that’s important to us.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Motorola Mobility inaugurated its new headquarters in the Chicago Merchandise Mart in April. The company is now the Merchandise Mart's largest tenant, occupying 600,000 square feet of space on the top four floors and rooftop of the building.

Moss said the company is reducing costs by streamlining at all levels.

The cuts are part of a global reduction in workforce that will affect 3,200 non-manufacturing jobs, or about 10 percent of those roles. The cuts will decrease Lenovo’s overall headcount by about 5 percent. The technology company employs about 60,000 worldwide.

Ramon Llamas, research manager for mobile phones and smartphones at Framingham, Mass.-based market intelligence firm IDC, said the cuts do not reflect a lack of confidence in Motorola Mobility but rather an overall desire by Lenovo to consolidate responsibilities and increase efficiency.

Motorola Mobility’s market share held steady — about 2.4 percent globally and about 6 percent in the United States — from first quarter 2014 through first quarter 2015, which is the most recent data available, Llamas said.

He added that the device maker’s recent strategy to deliver high-quality phones at low prices is a smart one, especially given the news that Verizon is eliminating subsidized phones and contracts.

Fred Hoch, CEO of the Illinois Technology Association, said the loss of these jobs is a blow to the Chicago technology community but that it is better able to absorb that shock — and the soon-to-be job-hunting tech talent — than it could have 15 or 20 years ago.

“Motorola has gone through many machinations over the past 20 years. It isn’t as if this is the first time this has occurred,” Hoch said. “It’d be more surprising if one of the great stars of Chicago today lost 500 employees overnight.”

Email: aelahi@tribpub.com • Twitter: @aminamania

Blue Sky Innovation reporter Meg Graham contributed