Motorola may be selling its 5,000-employee automotive-products unit, according to a report.
The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company has hired JPMorgan Chase to find a potential buyer for the division, which could fetch somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion, according to a report published in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
Motorola spokesman Jeff Madsen declined to comment on a potential sale.
Motorola's automotive unit makes telematics systems (in-car communications) used in GM's OnStar vehicle navigation systems, as well as sensors used in steering, braking, and power doors and windows. The company also makes under-the-hood controllers, including sensors that alert drivers to oil pressure problems.
GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler are three of Motorola's largest automotive contracts, Madsen said.
Motorola's automotive group reported revenues of $1.68 billion in 2004 as a part of Motorola's $31.3 billion total revenue last year.
Madsen said sales for the automotive division in the first quarter were down due to softer sales by North American automobile manufacturers. Second-quarter sales were also down, but only slightly compared with sales in 2004.
Profitability for Motorola's automobile division is improving. While Madsen said the group did not post a first-quarter profit in 2005, profit in the second quarter stabilized.
Shares of Motorola closed down 20 cents, or less than 1 percent, at $23.67 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company didn't try hard enough to stop a 10-year incursion by hackers likely working from China, says a former Nortel exec cited by the Wall Street Journal.
Google creates an animated doodle that features a boy, a girl, Google's search engine, and a jump rope. But might there be darker, more analytical, more troubling interpretations to this tale?
When the sun goes down, that's when the iPad gets busy for folks with news readers. The iPhone? It's more of a daytime habit. If you're building an app for both devices, heed the lesson.
EnerG2 opens a plant to make an engineered carbon that will improve performance of energy storage devices and make storage for start-stop hybrid cars less expensive.
-----------
kimbail
<a href="http://www.bikenut.com.au/motorcycle-transport-motorbike-transport-services.php" rel="dofollow">motorcycle transport</a>