Motorola Mulling Sale of Set-Top Box Unit

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (TheStreet) -- Motorola(MOT Quote) is examining the sale of its unit which makes television set-top boxes and networking gear, a report says.

The division, Motorola's biggest, could go for $4 billion to $5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

The auction of the unit was set in motion when two private-equity funds, TPG and Silver Lake Partners, approached Motorola recently and expressed an interest in buying the division.

While other companies are trying to get bigger, see Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ Quote) $2.7 billion bid Wednesday to buy 3Com(COMS Quote), Motorola is trying to break up as it seeks a strategy to combat plunging sales, the Journal notes. It has tried for nearly two years to spin off its mobile-phone business, without success.

The sale process is still at an early stage and Motorola hasn't yet received initial bids, the Journal reports. Motorola told the newspaper in a statement it doesn't comment on rumors, but said it remains committed to its long-term plan to split off the mobile-phone unit.

The set-top box division had sales of $10.1 billion last year.

Other companies that might also be interested in parts of the division include South Korea's Samsung Electronics; China's Huawei Technologies; Sweden's L.M. Ericsson(ERIC Quote) and Pace of the U.K.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York .

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