Motricity makes it official: job cuts and reorganization: Firm works to integrate InfoSpace acquisition

Motricity Inc. finally made it official, announcing that it will slash 250 jobs over the next nine months and move its headquarters from Durham, N.C. to the Seattle area.
The moves, which were first reported last week, are an effort by Motricity to streamline its business in the wake of January’s $135 million acquisition of InfoSpace Inc. Motricity will cut more than one-third of its overall workforce — and 70% of its Durham-based staff — as it relocates to InfoSpace’s hometown of Bellevue, Wash., “which is in close proximity to some of Motricity’s largest customers.”
The company also said it will discontinue Pocketgear.com, a retail storefront hawking mobile entertainment and business applications; the move follows Motricity’s sale of eReader.com, another direct-to-consumer play. And Motricity customers will migrate from the company’s own Fuel platform to InfoSpace’s mCore offering, which features storefront, search, messaging and managed Internet components.
“Moving forward, our strategy will be aligned with our core business of providing mobile content infrastructure services — enabling consumers to discover content inside and outside the walled garden,” said Motricity CEO Ryan Wuerch. “These services include powering portals, storefronts, managed Web and search for mobile operators along with messaging gateway services for all customers needing a mobile solution.”