Motorola Attempts to Revive Cellphone Business

Motorola was able to cut its loss down to $100 million ($0.01 per share) in the fourth quarter, an improvement from a loss of $623 million in Q4 2006. However, the company told investors that the return to a profit will take longer than originally expected.

"We are focused on aggressively rationalizing the company’s cost structure and working to get Mobile Devices back on track," said Greg Brown, chief executive officer of Motorola. "The recovery in Mobile Devices will take longer than expected and there is a lot more work to be done."

The company’s revenues came in at $9.6 billion for the quarter, down from $11.8 billion a year ago. Mobile Devices contributed $4.8 billion to the bottom line, down about 38% from Q4 2006. The operating loss was $388 million, compared to operating earnings of $341 million last year. For the complete year, the mobile unit lost $1.2 billion.

Motorola expects to see another loss of $0.05 to $0.07 per share in the first quarter