Motorola considers splitting up

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Motorola is considering breaking up its business as it battles to recover from last year's losses and weak sales.

One option under review is to split off the mobile phone business which has been losing market share to rivals.

Overall Motorola lost $49m (£24m) in 2007, but the phone unit lost $1.2bn and sales plummeted 33%.

The company has two other businesses, one sells television set-top boxes and the other sells equipment for wireless computer networks.

New chief executive

"We are exploring ways in which our mobile devices business can accelerate its recovery and retain and attract talent while enabling our shareholders to realize the value of this great franchise," said Greg Brown, the company's chief executive.

He took over from Ed Zander who stood down on 1 January this year.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has long been urging Motorola's management to split the mobile phone unit from the rest of the business.