Motorola Solutions Inc (MSI) is reported to be looking for potential buyers. The veteran voice technology pioneer has seen a steep decline in recent times, which sources close the company believe has prompted this move.
MSI is the Government, Public Safety and Enterprise Mobility Solutions unit i.e. the part that produces walkie-talkies as well scanning equipment for retailers.
MSI recently announced flat sales for 2014, with minor successes driven by the North American market. Not enough, evidently, to keep the company intact. Motorola as a company has seen a lot of change since 2011, most notably the sale of its mobile division to Google amid pressure from billionaire Carl Icahn, who pressed the company into 2 divided entities. The Google deal was worth around $12.5 billion, MSI however will go for a quarter of that.
MSI are pretty hush on any admission of a sell off, but inside sources expect interest from Raytheon, Honeywell International, and General Dynamics. Raytheon and General Dynamics are defence contractors while Honeywell is a diverse company producing commercial and consumer products with interests in engineering services and aerospace systems. None of the potential purchasers were available for comment. It is pretty tough to deny something now if you expect to own it soon. Quite frankly, nobody likes a liar.
A small positive from this speculation was that at the time of the leak, MSI shares jumped 8%, but soon enough returned to normal. The bottom line is that a company can only be chopped up in into so many pieces before disappearing completely- a sad moment for an organisation that was heralded for spectacular early mobile technology. This is a case study, however, for future tech companies, who don’t move with the times, reputation will only get you so far.