Schaumburg, Ill. –
Motorola’s long-delayed breakup into two public companies is back on track,
with the company targeting a first-quarter 2011 separation whose structure will
be a little different than announced in early 2008.
The latest announcement
follows Motorola’s third consecutive quarterly net and operating profit, posted
in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter on significantly lower losses by the
wireless-handset division. The handset group reduced its own operating losses
for the fifth consecutive quarter, and the company predicted that in the fourth
quarter of 2010, the handset division would return to profitability.
In 2008, the
handset business was to be spun off as a separate company, but now one of the
spun-off companies will market handsets and digital devices for the home,
including cable set-top boxes, cable and wireless modems, and other “end-to-end
video, voice and data solutions,” the company said.
The second company will make and market
enterprise, government and public-safety products and network infrastructure
products, including cellular and high-speed broadband infrastructure. Products
include two-way radios, mobile computers, secure public safety systems,
scanning products and RFID.
Both entities will use the Motorola brand,
with the new mobile device and home business expected to own the brand and
license it royalty-free to the enterprise mobility solutions and networks
business, the company said.
The new mobile device and home business will
“target growth opportunities from convergence of mobility, media and the
Internet,” the company said. The other business will “focus on mission- and
business-critical solutions for enterprise, government and wireless operators.”
Effective immediately, Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of
Motorola, has been named CEO of the mobile device and home business. Greg
Brown, also co-CEO of Motorola, has begun serving as CEO of the enterprise mobility
solutions and networks businesses.
Jha said the new mobile
business would bring together “two highly complementary” groups that will “be
best positioned to lead in the convergence of mobility, media and the Internet.”
The business’s smartphones and end-to-end video content delivery capabilities “will
enable us to provide advanced mobile media solutions and multi-screen
experiences for our customers,” he said.
The group will
work with network operators to “enable more advanced personalized services that
leverage the capability of expanding wireless and wireline broadband availability,”
he added.
