Motorola Completes Acquisition of Symbol Technologies, retires “Symbol” ID

Manufacturing News, Source : The Manufacturer US
Zone : Leadership and strategy
Published : 16 Jan 2007 17:24

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. –- Motorola, Inc. announced at last week’s Promat show in Chicago that it has completed its acquisition of Symbol Technologies, Inc. The transaction has a total equity value of approximately $3.9 billion on a fully-diluted basis.

We spoke to Chief Marketing Officer Alan Marcus, formerly of Symbol, who said “We’re Motorola now, one company. There will be no Symbol technologies.

“We’ll miss it,” he said of the Symbol identity, “in the sense that it’s been around a long time. But at the same time we’re excited at the breadth of the portfolio, both inside the four walls and outside. It’s a great match.”

By breadth of portfolio, Marcus refers to Motorola’s consumer market and Symbol’s corporate market. Will Symbol technology make its way into consumer product? “That kind of thing may happen in the future,” said Marcus, but for now, the product lines are distinct.

Symbol will be the core of Motorola’s enterprise mobility business, which Motorola believes positions the company to take enterprise mobility to a new level. Motorola now will offer the broadest array of innovative products and technologies available that enable enterprise customers to have access to business-critical information anytime, anywhere.

As previously announced on September 19, 2006, the two companies signed a definitive merger agreement under which Motorola has now acquired all of the outstanding shares of Symbol common stock. The transaction was completed today following approval of the merger by Symbol shareholders at a special meeting of shareholders. With the closing of the transaction, Symbol now becomes a part of Motorola Networks & Enterprise, a business with a combined revenue of $13 billion for 2005.

Sal Iannuzzi, former president and CEO of Symbol, will serve as president of the new Motorola enterprise mobility business. The business will be based at the former Symbol headquarters building in Holtsville, N.Y., and will utilize resources throughout Motorola.

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