SCHAUMBURG, Il – Profit fell 84% to $100 million in the fourth quarter at U.S. mobile phone manufacturer as sales of its cell phone dropped 38% to $4.8 billion. The company though lost $49 million during the year.
Motorola shipped about 1.5 million Razr 2 phones in the quarter, instead of the projected 2.5 million. Overall, Motorola sold 40.9 million phones compared with 65.7 million a year earlier. The company’s mobile phone unit lost $388 million on sales of $4.8 billion, compared with a profit of $341 million on sales of $7.8 billion the previous year.
Net income in the fourth quarter dropped to $100 million from $623 million as sales declined 18% to $9.65 billion.
“We are focused on aggressively rationalizing the company’s cost structure and working to get Mobile Devices back on track,” said Motorola CEO Greg Brown in a statement. “The recovery in Mobile Devices will take longer than expected and there is a lot more work to be done. Our primary focus is on improving profitability and enhancing our product portfolio in this business. At the same time, we are very pleased with the continued strong performance of our Home and Networks Mobility and Enterprise Mobility Solutions businesses.”
Sales were up at the company’s Home and Networks Mobility group, which manufactures set-top boxes and wireless infrastructure.
Fourth-quarter sales were up 11% in the Home and Networks Mobility group, which makes set-top boxes and wireless infrastructure, to $2.7 billion, but its profit dropped to $192 million. The company’s Home Business unit saw sales rise 35% to $2.1 billion to drive profits up to $451 million from $323 million.
