Motorola To Split In Two 91
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that Motorola plans to reorganize itself into two independent publicly held companies by the first quarter of 2011. The first company will own the Motorola brand and will include Motorola's mobile handset unit and home set-top box business. This new company will focus on the 'three screens' lifestyle envisioned by carriers like AT&T and Verizon, where customers would watch content on TV, on their computers, and on their mobile phones. The other company emerging from the split will include Motorola's wireless networking business and its enterprise radio systems operations. The wireless networking business would likely be sold off, leaving the second company with its profitable enterprise radio systems business, which generated $7 billion of the company's $22 billion in sales in 2009."
Re:Ehh... And there were times (Score:5, Informative)
Which one keeps the "Motorola" name? (Score:4, Informative)
The weak point was the plug at the bottom for the charger - it stopped working properly a few weeks ago. 10 minutes with the point of a kitchen knife to scrape off the accumulated gunk and it's good as new!
Slow disintegration (Score:1, Informative)
I worked for Motorola for five years back in better times.
This summary is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola
... Iridium filed for bankruptcy in 1999 caused Semiconductor Components Group, (standard analog and standard logic devices) to spin off the ON Semiconductor
...declines in business during 2000 and 2001 caused Motorola to spin off its Government Electronics Division (GED) to General Dynamics.
...October 16, 2003 ... spun off its Semiconductor Products Sector [IC's/microprocessors etc.] into Freescale Semiconductor, Inc..
... July, 2006 Motorola completed the sale of its automotive business (vehicle navigation, engine/transmission, sensors steering/braking/doors) to Continental AG.
...October, 2008, Motorola sold its Biometrics business to Safran, a French defense firm.
... March 26, 2008 (after failing to find a buyer for its phone division) , board of directors approved a split into two different publicly traded companies.
split has since been indefinitely delayed due to company restructuring problems and the 2008-2009 extreme economic downturn.
... February 11, 2010, Motorola announced its separation into two independent, publicly traded companies.
The split was Carl Icahn's idea. (Score:5, Informative)
Quote: "On March 24, 2008 Icahn sued Motorola as part of his efforts to gain 4 seats on Motorola's Board and force a sale of its mobile business."
It is interesting that the New York Times article linked by Slashdot doesn't discuss the reason for the split. The reason may be that the split would be profitable for Mr. Icahn.
Symbol to be egested (Score:3, Informative)
What happened? V3 failures. (Score:3, Informative)
Could you explain further? What happened that cause Motorola's inability to make sensible decisions?
The Motorola V3 Razr phone was successful until owners discovered the screen was open to dust and moisture, the manual was terrible, and the help messages were unhelpful. I noticed that Motorola cell phones became much less popular after the Razr.