• Motorola may quit mobile phone market


    01 February 2008
    The struggling American electronics company Motorola is considering breaking itself up through a sale or flotation of its poorly performing mobile phones business. After a year in which it has been assailed by angry shareholders, Motorola last night announced it was exploring a "structural and strategic realignment" to revive the fortunes of its handsets division. "The company's alternatives may include the separation of mobile devices from its other businesses in order to permit each business to grow and better serve its customers," the company said. Such a move could reshape the global mobile phones industry, leaving the rump of Motorola to concentrate on radios, networking equipment and household electronics such as television set-top boxes. Although renowned for its ultra-thin Razr phones, Motorola has been losing market share; it slipped from second to third place in the world last year, behind Samsung and the industry leader, Nokia. Motorola has been facing break-up calls for more than a year from the billionaire shareholder activist Carl Icahn, who owns 3.3% of the stock and sought boardroom representation last year. Icahn greeted the announcement with satisfaction: "For many months I have been publicly advocating the separation of mobile devices from Motorola's other business and I am pleased to see that Motorola is finally exploring that proposal." He warned, however, that he intends to try to unseat four or five of Motorola's 13 board members again at this year's annual meeting: "We believe Motorola is finally moving in the right direction but certainly still has a long way to go." Full story http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/01/telecoms?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

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