Motorola Getting Chopped In Half, In A Good Way

• Rob Jackson
• 15 years ago

It wasn’t long ago we were talking about Motorola selling their handset division or maybe even just burning it and scattering the ashes since everyone had negative things to say about it. Well rather than get blown into billions of bits, Motorola is getting chopped in half, with mobile handset business and TV set-top box business in unit and their wireless networking business as a separate unit. The goal is for the newly formed entities to be more focused and nimble.

The two new companies are just about equal in terms of revenue with a combined $22 billion in sales in 2009 – each earning half. But revenue and profit are two very different things. I’m sure this new setup will improve business operations but I think it pales in comparison to the REAL game changer here… Motorola making products that people actually want.

In the New York Times article announcing this information I found the following detail rather crazy:

“people briefed on the matter have said that Motorola also planned to sell its wireless networking division after the spinoff. Last year, Motorola had begun seeking a buyer for its set-top box and wireless networking units”

Does that mean Motorola was trying to sell EVERYTHING? When did they go from trying to sell their handset division only to trying to keep their handset division only? Maybe when… they started making Android Phones that absolutely rocked? Yeah, probably.