Motorola Names Qualcomm Exec Co-CEO

Motorola (MOT Quote) has named a former Qualcomm (QCOM Quote) executive as head of its mobile-device unit, a significant step in spinning off the handset division into a separate public company.

Sanjay Jha, COO and president of CDMA Technologies with Qualcomm, will leave to become co-chief executive officer of Motorola and CEO of the company's mobile-devices business. Motorola CEO Greg Brown will also serve as co-CEO and will head up the broadband mobility solutions division.

Motorola is currently working to split its operations into two separate publicly traded companies. On March 26, the company announced it would seek to splinter off its troubled handset unit. Earlier this week, the company said it would separate its home and networks mobility segment into three new units, broadband home solutions, broadband access solutions and cellular networks.

Jha will take control of a handset unit that has struggled mightily in the two years since the company's Razr handset fell out of fashion. In its second-quarter earnings report released last Thursday, Motorola said mobile-device sales dropped 22% from the second quarter of 2007. The division also had operating loss of $346 million in the quarter, 4% greater than the loss a year ago.

Weakness in the handset division was offset by a strong performance in the company's other segments. Motorola's home and networks mobility segment sales in the second quarter were $2.7 billion, up 7% from the year-ago quarter. The enterprise mobility segment saw sales rise 6% from a year earlier to $2 billion.

Shares of Motorola were lately up 7.3% to $9.45, while Qualcomm lost 1.4%. Competing phone maker Nokia (NOK Quote) was up 1.5%, and Ericsson (ERIC Quote) tacked on 0.6%.

Among smart-phone makers, Research In Motion (RIMM Quote) rose nearly 0.5%, while Apple (AAPL Quote) was down 0.4%.