Motorola reported a massive $3.6 billion fourth-quarter loss, suspended its dividend, and announced the departure of its chief financial officer, reflecting the dwindling value of its cell phone business.
The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company earned $100 million in the same quarter of 2007. It sold 19.2 million cell phones worth $2.35 billion in the quarter, less than half the number of units it sold in the fourth quarter of 2007.
It cut costs by $1.5 billion this year, mainly from the cell phone division. It announced 4,000 job cuts in January.
"We have our work cut out for us in 2009 as we focus on the future success of Mobile Devices," said Sanjay Jha, head of Motorola's cell phone business. He said Motorola will produce smartphones, taking on Apple's iPhone and Research in Motion's BlackBerrys, using Google's Android software.
Motorola announced in March that it would spin the cell phone business off into a separate publicly traded company sometime in the third quarter this year.
Motorola gave no specific reason for the departure of CFO Paul Liska, who was appointed last February, but co-CEO Greg Brown implied that it was connected to the delay of the phone spin-off.
