According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) might spin its upcoming split in a new way. And frankly, I think the updated idea is better.
Rather than simply slicing today's monolithic business into a consumer products company and a separate enterprise for infrastructure products, Motorola is thinking about simply selling the telecom equipment division outright. In a deal valued at more than $1 billion, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Siemens (NYSE: SI) could pick the unit up to boost the American footprint of their Nokia-Siemens joint venture. Chinese networking giant Huawei reportedly was interested, but dropped out of the bidding because of international security concerns. Other potential bidders may lurk in some dark corner, too.
Selling out to Nokia-Siemens rather than going it alone would make Motorola-Nokia-Siemens a formidable competitor for market leader LM Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC) in certain markets. Nokia-Siemens already has a working relationship with Verizon (NYSE: VZ), but Motorola's networks division also caters to Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) and Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR).
When Canadian networking veteran Nortel Networks went out of business, a lively auction erupted over the component parts. The same thing could happen again, unless Motorola decides to stay the course and let the networking operation simply go public. Squeezing up-front cash out of the European invaders would make a lot more sense from a shareholder perspective, because nothing is guaranteed when it comes to IPO spinoffs at the mercy of Mr. Market. In other words, I'd be surprised if Motorola didn't end up selling this unit off to the highest bigger. The only question in my mind is, who will front the cash?
I'm thinking it'll be Nokia-Siemens, after Ericsson pulls out amid monopoly scrutiny. Where do you think Motorola's telecom unit is going? Discuss in the comments box below.
