“Motorola Inc. disclosed late Thursday that the Schaumburg maker of communication products is exploring a ‘strategic realignment’ that might include divestiture of its troubled cellular-phone business,” James P. Miller reports for The Chicago Tribune.
“Motorola shares were pounded recently, after the company reported fourth-quarter results battered by the continuing loss of market share in cell phones . Once riding high on the success of its striking Razr, Motorola’s handset business has had difficulty finding a follow-up hit and its rivals have moved in to take a growing share of the global market,” Miller reports.
“Motorola’s cell-phone problems renewed speculation that the company might exit the volatile handset business and concentrate on its remaining, less-volatile communications-equipment operations. This week, Nomura analyst Richard Windsor raised that possibility and noted that rumors of a Chinese buyer for Motorola’s handset business have revived,” Miller reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “ChicagoMusicGuy” for the heads up.]
Jim Goldman reports for CNBC, “A source following the situation closely tells me that Motorola would not have made this move without having a buyer for the handset business in mind already. Further, he says, advanced negotiations to that end are already underway between Motorola and Dell.”
Full article here.
That’s what you get when you rest on your laurels and fail to innovate. Palm can tell Moto all about it. And, Dell? Puleeze. Let us sing you a little Ditty about that prospect.
May 10, 2007, Motorola Chairman (until May) and then-CEO Ed Zander said his company was ready for competition from Apple’s iPhone, due out the following month. “How do you deal with that?” Zander was asked at the Software 2007 conference Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif. Zander quickly retorted, “How do they deal with us?” – IDG News Service
It took but one year for Zander to lose both his CEO and Chairman positions. Take a look at Motorola today, Ed. That’s how they dealt with you. Any more questions?
What is there left to “break up”?
Ouch.
MDN Magic Word: aid….
….as in Moto could use some.
Another candidate for a trip to Dumbfsckistan! Welcome, Zucker the Sucker!
Oh, almost all commercial and public safety two-way radio systems and some semiconductor manufacturing.
Not to mention set top boxes.
Moto’s public safety radio equipment isn’t as good as it used to be either.
Another case of incompetent management destroying a once great American company.
Man, sucks to be Motto.
TV update… :^(
mdn magic word, “table,” as in “table the update until mid-febbraio”
Dell is a great fit for this, because you just need to shove cheap parts into a small container, install Windows Mobile and you’ve got a shippable product. That’s why Dell has done so well with their line of PDA’s.
Dell has PDAs?
No jobs in Schaumburg, huh?
Well folks, Oak Brook — a few miles down the road — has McEmployment opportunities.
they just bought 18.5 million in software from the company I work for, so I’m sure they are doing a little better than everyone thinks
While the top end phones Motorola was planning got smashed by iPhone, the rest got knocked over by Nokia with a tug of the rug, and of course for the US market there were Samsung and SonyE doing the same.
Motorola phones might end up in Chinese hands, it seems like a Chinese company already, factories and major engineering labs are here.
Buy Motorola’s phone departement?!…Dell certainly has some cash… But woudn’t it be a bit hazardous as Dell allready encounters quite few asseling issues with not so good sales?
I could see Dell trying to buy it. It seems as if Apple is consolidating their computer business with increased mobility. That means if others want to stay competitive, they may need to try to get into the act, too.
More bumpy times ahead as things shake out.
it’s like the blind leading the blind….
I hope Apple buys the wireless spectrum that is up for auction and turns the whole world upside-down…
So the beleaguered cell phone business will be sold to a beleaguered PC maker? Sounds like a good fit.
I work for Motorola and a whole lot of us are Mac users and have iPhones as personal phones.
BTW Moto sells twice as many wireless switches as Cisco. Bet you didn’t know that. Mobile Devices is only about 20 to 30 % of the company now. Symbol is doing quite well as well as many other sectors of the company and Moto has billions in the bank and no debt.
So what is old Ed Zander up to these days?
Yo Me ?
Hope you have a good resume because your company and your job is probably toast. I have a lot of friends who work for Moto, good people, who have had terrible leadership and total lack of real innovation.
(Matt hands Me another cup of Kool Aid)
Here have another sip and then compare Moto to Cisco again ?
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
rofl
Why sell to Dell? They’re dying too arn’t they?
I can’t wait until all U.S. companies go down the shitter and none of us have jobs. Then we’ll all have great fun making jokes about everyone else’s misfortune. Don’t worry, at this rate it won’t be long.
There’s nothing wrong with the US economy – it’s as dynamic as it’s always been. Winners and losers come about more rapidly, perhaps, but innovation, and risk taking are as rewarded as ever.
Simple.
Motorola…the same folks that brought you IRIDIUM!!!!
They need to just throw themselves on a grenade and end it.