Running the numbers paints bleak picture for Motorola spinoff

Okay, so announcing that you're going to split the company in two is the easy part; actually financing that split is where it starts to get a little hairy. Motorola's facing the cold, hard reality of figuring out how to keep its handset division afloat for any appreciable length of time once it officially gets kicked out of the corporate family, and it's not looking pretty; current estimates peg the new division's needs at $4 billion in free cash to keep itself going for just two years, and if the remainder of Moto were to finance that, it would end up putting its own liquidity at significant risk. Further complicating matters is the fact that the company's Broadband and Mobility division shares tons of infrastructure and manufacturing capability with the Mobile Devices division, a tangle that'll run about three-quarters of a billion dollars to straighten out. All this financial heartache is allegedly behind Todd Bradley's balking at Moto's job offer, a bad sign for trying to lure any other exec with the kind of experience and prestige they're desperately looking for. You know, guys, Ryan's offer still stands, and he won't cost you an arm and a leg to bring on board. Just sayin'.

[Via mocoNews]