Motorola (NASDAQ: MOT) plans to capitalize on the economic rebound and make acquisitions once it has completed the planned spinoff of the firm's handset unit in early 2011. In addition, the company indicated plans to capitalize on the growing demand for 4G equipment.
Motorola co-CEO Greg Brown told Bloomberg that once the firm becomes independent of its handset division in early 2011, "there will be some opportunities for us to do non-organic things" such as make acquisitions. The types of firms Motorola may consider include those in the surveillance and security areas.
In addition, Brown said the company will make the most of the explosion in 4G technology, which he expects to be adopted earlier than expected because of the bandwidth demands on operators. Nevertheless, Brown also said the sale of the wireless networks business is still a possibility--but he isn't ruling out a partnership in that area either.
In February, Motorola announced it would break the company into two independent, publicly traded companies in the first quarter of 2011. Co-CEO Sanjay Jha will head up the Mobile Devices and Home Businesses company. Brown will be CEO of the Enterprise Mobility Solutions and Networks business, which includes the company's two-way radio business, mobile computers, public-safety systems, RFID and wireless network infrastructure.
Jha has indicated that when Motorola splits he may transplant the handset and set-top box units to California to tap the large number of skilled workers in the Silicon Valley.
Last week Motorola posted a net profit of $69 million in the first quarter of 2010, which was a reversal of the $231 million net loss in its year-ago period. Motorola's company-wide net sales fell to $5.04 billion, down 6.1 percent from $5.37 million in the first quarter of 2009.
For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
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