SONY BUYS OUT ERICSSON TO TAKE CONTROL OF COMPANY

We reported earlier on a rumor that Sony was buying Ericsson's half of Sony-Ericsson. That rumor is now confirmed and we have learned how much Sony is paying to acquire full control of the failed partnership, $1.45 billion! By acquiring full control Sony believes that it will be able to be more competitive, produce new hardware faster, and allow phones to “seamlessly connect” with other product categories e.g. laptops, tablets, and TVs.

The buyout not only sees Sony take control of Sony Ericsson, but also includes a broad IP cross-licensing agreement with Ericsson including taking ownership of “five essential patent families.”

Although this could be viewed as a split between the two companies, it seems anything but. Ericsson will now focus on the global wireless market, but has also setup a wireless connectivity initiative with Sony. The aim is to make it simple to connect different devices across multiple platforms.

MOTOROLA COMPLETES SPLIT INTO MOBILITY AND SOLUTIONS

Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha rang the opening bell of the NYSE today, signalling the completion of the split of Motorola into two separate companies, Mobility and Solutions.

Motorola Mobility, trading under MMI, will focus on consumer mobile devices and home solutions. Motorola Solutions, trading under the ticker symbol MSI, targets government and enterprise workers.

Jha, who will serve as CEO of Motorola Mobility, said in a press release, "We are pleased that Motorola Mobility has reached this important milestone. After more than two years of planning, today we begin operating as a financially strong, independent company trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
We are well-positioned to build on the strong momentum we have in smartphones and end-to-end video solutions –and to take advantage of opportunities resulting from the convergence of media, mobility, computing and the Internet."

MOTOROLA OFFICIALLY SPLITS ON JANUARY 4

Motorola announced Tuesday that its board has approved a reverse stock split ratio of 1-for-7, and the company will finally split into two separate entities on January 4th, 2011. In just over a month, Motorola will change its name to Motorola Solutions, Inc. and its mobile division will separate to form a new publicly traded company, Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. The reverse split will boost the value of Motorola’s current stock, which will be traded as MSI starting January 4th. New stock will be issued for Motorola Mobility, which will trade under the symbol MMI. “Today’s announcement marks another important milestone toward the upcoming separation that is expected to benefit Motorola, its stockholders, as well as each company’s respective customers and employees,” Motorola co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha said in a joint statement. “We look forward to taking advantage of the opportunities before us as we begin the new year as two independent, publicly traded companies.” Following the split, Brown will be CEO of Motorola Solutions while Jha will become CEO of Motorola Mobility. [BGR]