Weak phone sales hurt Motorola earnings

Motorola on Thursday reported a first-quarter loss of $194 million, or 9 cents per share, up from a year-ago a loss of $181 million, or 8 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

The report comes as the company is struggling to reorganize its mobile-phone business before it separates into two companies.

Net sales for the quarter were $7.45 billion, down from $9.43 billion a year ago.

Sales at the Mobile Devices division were $3.3 billion, down 39 percent compared to a year ago. That division reported an operating loss of $418 million, up from $233 million in the year-ago quarter. During the quarter, the company shipped 27.4 million handsets.