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Motorola's split takes effect

Two new companies begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the smartphone-focused Motorola Mobility under the ticker MMI and enterprise-minded Motorola Solutions as MSI.

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Jon Skillings Director of copy editing
A born browser of dictionaries and a lifelong New Englander, Jon Skillings is director of copy editing at CNET. He honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing tech publications back when the web was just getting under way. He writes occasionally, on topics from GPS to James Bond.
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  • 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
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Jon Skillings

The long-planned breakup of Motorola is now a reality.

The two new companies both began trading this morning on the New York Stock Exchange, Motorola Mobility Holdings under the ticker "MMI" and Motorola Solutions as "MSI."

Motorola Mobility gets the more consumer-focused lineup of mobile phones and set-top boxes, and it begins independent life riding a surge of success for the company's Android-based smartphones. In the third quarter of 2010, the unified Motorola posted an operating profit ($3 million) for its mobile devices unit for the first time in about four years, as the company shipped 9.1 million phones, including 3.8 million smartphones.

"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," Sanjay Jha, chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility, said in a statement.

Motorola Solutions, meanwhile, will focus on enterprise and network business products.

The plan to separate a then-struggling Motorola into two companies was made public in March 2008.