Things really aren’t going Motorola’s way these days. Following on analyst speculation that Motorola’s Android aspirations might not be enough to save the struggling US handset manufacturer, Motorola has announced major losses for the last quarter of 2008 (Q4 2008). Motorola has once again crossed the bottom-line into red-ink territory with a $3.6 billion net loss for the previous quarter.
Motorola’s handset division saw sales slide 51% to bring the company $2.35 billion in Q4, compared to the same period last year. Full-year handset sales hit $12.1 billion, which translates to 19.2 million handsets. As impressive as that number might be, the mobile phone once-giant reports handset sales were down 36% for 2008 compared to the previous year.
And, as all good companies do when they’re facing tough times and revenue losses, Motorola is shuffling some executive leaders. Edward J. Fitzpatrick, senior vice president and corporate controller, will replace Paul Liska as acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Motorola. Fitzpatrick will serve as CFO until Motorola can find a permanent replacement.
Motorola has also suspended dividends on their stocks. A sign of tough times indeed.
[Via: Bloomberg]