Analyst says Motorola "would be lucky" to get $500 million

Things have been looking pretty bleak for Motorola and its attempts to salvage its handset division for some time now, but a number of analysts are now painting an even clearer picture of just how bad things might be. According to BusinessWeek, some analysts are saying that with spin-off plans looking less and less likely, Motorola may revert back to its original plan to sell off the handset division outright, although Envisioneering Group's Richard Doherty says it "would be lucky to fetch $500 million." As BusinessWeek points out, that very same analyst pegged the business at a hefty $8 billion just last year. Analyst Richard Windsor of Nomura even went so far as to say that Motorola might actually have to pay someone to take the division off its hands. Now that's an idea we can get behind.

[Via Unwired View]

[sk8rpro @ Jul 10th 2008 5:40PM]

Wow, that is so sad! $500 Million, that's hardly anything :(

[derX @ Jul 10th 2008 6:02PM]

I get that Moto is ailing and all that jazz, but I honestly don't buy that they're doing that poorly. Moto's been around for a while. The research they've done alone has to push them over the $500million mark. I think they're just trying to paint a bleaker picture than there actually is to sink 'em faster.

I don't believe this.

[Jon @ Jul 10th 2008 7:47PM]

Please note this is not the entire company for sale. Just the Handset Division. Yes, it is probably worth more than $500 million, but they have not produced much in the last few years.

[Paul @ Jul 10th 2008 9:53PM]

I don't know why Motorola gets so much slack. I just bought a Z9 and the phone is quite good. The call and build quality is excellent and is on par or better than most GSM phones I have used; including the Nokia N95, iphone and HTC 6800.

The last Motorola I owned was the startac in 2000. Recently upgraded this from my Sprint Mogul.

[Paul @ Jul 10th 2008 9:55PM]

That is upgraded from the 6800 to the Z9.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Jul 11th 2008 12:07AM]

@Paul

Like you said,Motorola has always been about making radios that work really damn well including cellular phone (radios). The problem is the public no longer values what makes a good cell phone great and that's its signal integrity and sound quality. The contemporary buying consumer is too busy worrying about which cell phone has the integrated bluetooth chainsaw, food processor, and Western Union Telegraph Support. None of which should really matter when buying a phone. Just give me a phone to make a call and be sure it can give me a strong connection to the nearest tower, nothing else; no more built in B.S.

[Pdexter @ Jul 11th 2008 3:44AM]

People are a bit too USA centric here. Nokia smoked Moto out of the emergin markets and currently Nokia controls just to give example Chinese market. Here in Europe you can't even buy most of the Moto phones not to even talk about that it has been over a year since i saw moto.
Inerface and features can't compete with Samsung, Nokia plus you get more features with Sams and Nok. People shouldn't be talking about Nokia's N and E series when they talk about how is the company doing. Phone's like 6300 and 6500 slide are example those phones that brings most of the $ to Nokia.

It would be sad to see Moto really go because imo they still make the best looking flips(even if i'm not a fan of flips) and has good rf(has the phone part right) like these other old players in this business.

[Adrian @ Jul 10th 2008 5:42PM]

Ill take MOTO for $200 Alex!!

[Podaman @ Jul 10th 2008 6:23PM]

Alex: This fashion phone, who's name is shortened for leetness, retailed for a ludicrous $800 without contract at it's release in 2004.

[diulei @ Jul 10th 2008 5:46PM]

I have a friend who works as a tech for Verizon. He brings home a new phone sometimes 2 times a month - and I am not surprised. Moto's phone just plain suck. They lag, are not very intuitive, and everything seems half assed.

Moto - take a good, long, look at your competitors' products, domestic and foreign... it's not hard to see why your hand set division is suffering.

[dvsbstrd @ Jul 10th 2008 6:20PM]

>They lag, are not very intuitive, and everything seems half assed

Urm, your friend works for Verizon.

All their non smartphones meet those criteria.

[Dorf @ Jul 10th 2008 6:42PM]

That's the Verizon UI that is so laggy. Gives Moto a bad name.

The Q9C, for a low end smartphone is a pretty nice device, for the price.

[somewhatboxes @ Jul 10th 2008 5:48PM]

Motorola needs new management. As much of a shame as it would be to see Ryan go, I'd be rooting for a change like that. They don't need some faceless name who's been in the fold for the past decade and had his fingerprints on the train wreck that is the cell phone handset industry, they need someone new who has some good ideas and isn't afraid of waging what little there is left to be waged.

Another vote in favor of Ryan (or another Technologist) for CEO of Motorola. Now's the time, if ever, to pour every resource into blowing away any and all competition, not scaling back on everything and hoping to God that you can scrape by on contracts that obligate companies and corporations to do business with you.

[wasabi @ Jul 10th 2008 5:56PM]

lol i like the sad face.

[helloUser @ Jul 10th 2008 6:00PM]

LOL, seconded.

[shutupandletmego @ Jul 10th 2008 6:00PM]

Take it with a pinch of salt. Just because this estimate is bad doesn't mean it's any more accurate than the "analyst's" last estimate.

I have been a lifelong Moto fan. Can't wait for the Blaze.

Go Moto!!!

[Thijs Haenen @ Jul 10th 2008 6:00PM]

Great- but what's an anaylst?

;)

[sk8rpro @ Jul 10th 2008 6:09PM]

Analyst: One who analyzes someone or something

No, but seriously, it's basically people on the news that get paid well just to give evaluations in a certain category.

Remember Tim Russert? (Rest in peace) He was a political analyst.
Walt Mossberg (Sometimes I just wanna say "Who the hell is that guy?") is an analyst that most of the time favors Apple.

[Microsoftman! @ Jul 10th 2008 6:27PM]

my dad works for moto. He is one of their best accessory sellers to the big companies. I hope he doesn't get fired or layed off from this!

[greg @ Jul 10th 2008 6:08PM]

alright lets start the bidding. I see $200 and raise to $1000

[Ed T @ Jul 10th 2008 6:17PM]

Another American icon bites the dust. Moto used to define technology and pulled its weight with the big boys. Then management got cute and spun off this and that until now we're left with little more than a cardboard box full of dust kittens and an old phone book.

So sad.

[Anthony @ Jul 10th 2008 7:08PM]

Motorola virtually invented cellular technology (ship to shore). It's really sad to see them in this state, but if your stuff hasn't gotten better than the Startac (revolutionary product in its day) then it's only fitting that you should suffer.

[Craig @ Jul 10th 2008 7:47PM]

I've had three Motorola handsets: a Startac 3000, which was awesome, and a RAZR V3M and Q. The Q will arrive at its long-overdue retirement at 8am tomorrow. The only positive thing I can say about the Q is that it has a removable battery. If it didn't, it'd be unusable, since I have to remove the battery about four times a week to reboot the damn thing.

[roach @ Jul 10th 2008 6:35PM]

I remember when Moto and their cpu was Apple little darling. Now, even Apple is attacking Moto's major source of livelihood. Peaple accuse MS of having a predator mentality and they rightly to accuse them, but don't tell me Apple don't have the same mentality. They all want to be king of the hill and they would eat their own children to get to the top.

[Adderz @ Jul 11th 2008 4:27PM]

But the difference is, Apple KNOW what they can do. Microsoft want a finger in EVERY pie, just because they can. Apple has a TINY product range, but what they do, they do well. So cheers to them.

Motorola had an EXCELLENT phone with the RAZR, but totally ruined it with its endless spin offs. The reputation of quality parts, and fashionable was gone.

Razr, Rizr, Krazr, Razr v3x, Razr MAXX v6, Razr 2, who is thinking of these names!

They need to put more into R&D.

[naz @ Jul 10th 2008 6:49PM]

The Motorola Razr seems so long ago.

[spaceb @ Jul 10th 2008 7:11PM]

Bring back the StarTac!

[Jeff Snugglebutton @ Jul 10th 2008 7:42PM]

MOTO still has the best reception on GSM the Z9 V9 and Q9 are leaps and bounds above others. I only wish the iphone had 1/2 the signal strength as my Z9. My friend and I drive from FTC to Denver everyday. He has an iphone and I a Z9 i have never ever dropped a call, he drops calls like 5 times just during our ride to work... i want an iphone so bad but if the signal strength is that bad forget it. I talked to a friend that manages an ATT store out there and he said the 3G signal is the same crummy signal as before.

[Paul @ Jul 10th 2008 10:01PM]

You are right there. I compared a HTC Tilt, Iphone, N95, Imate 9502 to the Z9 and the signal and call quality simply does not compare. My previous Sprint 6800 was a great phone but did everything but make and receive clear calls properly.

[Cassini @ Jul 10th 2008 8:10PM]

"...although Envisioneering Group's Richard Doherty says it "would be lucky to fetch $500 million." As BusinessWeek points out, that very same analyst pegged the business at a hefty $8 billion just last year. Analyst Richard Windsor of Nomura even went so far as to say that Motorola might actually have to pay someone to take the division off its hands."

That's harsh. But I have no reason not to believe it.

What were the people running this business thinking? That they could stop innovating, grow jaded and apathetic, and keep raking in the bucks?

You reap what you sow.

[spence @ Jul 10th 2008 10:14PM]

After my experience with the Moto Q I can't say I'm surprised. This phone has been nothing but a complete pile of junk. I will vote with my dollars and will never purchase another Motorola product again.

[thewalrusking @ Jul 10th 2008 11:45PM]

Original Q SUCKED but the new 2 arent that bad. Not Blackberry good but not bad.

[thewalrusking @ Jul 10th 2008 10:49PM]

I work for verizon and man almost id say 80% of the phones that come in to get repaired are Motos, maybe 90% and of those its eaither the Krazr, or the Razr. Batteries last like a few months, screens go blank, simple things but its like 10 per hour somedays.

That said I do like my Q9m

[Alric @ Jul 11th 2008 12:09AM]

It's all six sigma. Rather than a tool to reduce errors American managers saw it as a cost cutting device. They cut all the innovation off leading to unimaginative products.

[emdee @ Jul 11th 2008 1:39AM]

If I knew Google, I'd be whispering buyitbuyitbuyit in to their ear.

Google could start building gPhones with Motorola's knowhow.

However, they need to dump the current line of phones and fire whoever is responsible for design.

[logicaljackass @ Jul 11th 2008 2:39AM]

The management & the marketing team gotta go .. they are whole & sole responsible for this state of misery Moto is in ...

[Gerry Lim @ Jul 11th 2008 2:40AM]

Maybe Motorola should sell the rights to its name, along with the handset division. Then there would takers from China.

[RYANGee @ Jul 11th 2008 11:23AM]

I seriously wonder how/why these analysts get paid. To sit around, look at some numbers, and say. . .hmm yea they suck, I wouldn't buy them for X-dollars. Do they know the intimate details of the current workings of Motorola? Or, for that matter, any company and what their game plans are? Probably not. Not all company info is open forum. I'll believe them as much as I believe a 900-number psychic.

[teej @ Jul 11th 2008 1:29PM]

how are they doing poorly? it seems like, literally, everyone and their mom has a friggin RAZR, KRAZ, etc....wtfreebsd?

[ConceptVBS @ Jul 11th 2008 9:37PM]

Samsung should acquire Motorola. Samsung has plenty of money for R&D plus Motorola has most of the ORIGINAL patents for radio communications. Together they can beat Nokia out of this water. Plus $500 Million for a whole handset division would be a bargain.