Why Icahn Made His Motorola Move
SCHAUMBURG, Illinois (
) --
Motorola
(MOT)
is in the spotlight after activist investor
snapped up
an additional $86 million worth of the phonemaker's shares
, underlining the compay's growth potential.
The purchase takes Icahn's stake in Motorola to 10.4%, according to
The Wall Street Journal
, and highlights the company's momentum in the fiercely competitive smartphone space. Icahn's move comes at a time when Motorola is undergoing a major metamorphosis designed to boost its smartphone sales.
|
Motorola is in the process of splitting into two companies -- one for networking equipment, the other for mobile phones and TV set-top boxes. Last month, the gearmaker also announced a deal to
sell most of its wireless network infrastructure assets to Nokia Siemens Networks
for $1.2 billion.
Despite intense competition, Motorola's phone business is already enjoying success. The company
expects to sell 12 million to 14 million smartphones in 2010
and recently launched the
(GOOG) - Get Report
Android-powered
phone.
Sold via
Verizon
(VZ) - Get Report
, the Droid 2 offers twice the speed and memory of the original Droid phone and is already being cited as a
major positive
for Motorola and its investors.
Motorola is also preparing to
later this year to challenge
Apple's
(AAPL) - Get Report
popular iPhone 4.
Analyst firm NPD Group recently reported that
Android had overtaken Research In Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry OS
as the most popular U.S. smartphone operating system, thanks partly to Motorola.
Motorola shares crept up 2 cents, or 0.27%, to $7.52 in Friday trading, mirroring the modest advance in tech stocks that saw the Nasdaq gain 0.38%.
--Written by James Rogers in New York.
>To follow the writer on Twitter, go to
http://twitter.com/jamesjrogers
.
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