Coming Soon From Motorola: STNKR, CLNKR and FUBAR
by John Paczkowski
Posted on April 24, 2008 at 5:42 AM PT
Motorola added another dancer to its conga line of disappointing quarters today, posting an ugly first-quarter loss. The ongoing collapse of its post-Razr phone business continued to weigh heavily on the company, which lost $194 million in the quarter ended March 31. That’s significantly worse than its year-ago loss of $181 million. Sales fell about 21% to $7.45 billion, from $9.43 billion a year ago. Mobile-devices losses were $418 million on sales of $3.3 billion, down 39% from the year-earlier quarter.
Suffice to say, the gruesome performance fell short of Wall Street expectations. Motorola (MOT) shares slipped into the mud following the news. They’re trading around $9 right now, down some 4%.
Not to worry, though, says CEO Greg Brown. Motorola, which plans to shed its money-losing handset division in 2009, is well positioned for recovery. “Motorola is still a huge business and an iconic company,” he told USA Today. “I see a vibrant, very successful mobile-device business with a fresh portfolio that is aggressive and competing effectively [in the global market]. These elements, I think, will allow it to compete ferociously in the future.”
Comments
“Motorola is still a huge business and an iconic company,” is delusional.
Posted by Dave Barnes at April 24th, 2008 at 9:39 amHuge, yes.
Iconic, no so much.
I am sure the brand is iconic among NFL teams as Motorola appears to have 100% dominance of headsets.
But, among teenagers and 20-somethings who buy cellphones, I suspect that it is Motorola who?