» Motorola Agrees to Purchase Symbol Technologies for $3.9 BillionTelecommunications Industry News

Telecom News Editorials Reports Glossary

Motorola Agrees to Purchase Symbol Technologies for $3.9 Billion

7:00 am on September 20, 2006 | Category: Business, Corporate, Mobile Devices, Wireless Technology

Motorola has announced a deal to acquire Symbol Technologies, a leading provider of bar code scanners and rugged handheld PCs, at a price of $3.9 billion, or $15 per share.

This deal marks Motorolaâ€™s biggest acquisition in over five years. It will put the American handset maker at the forefront of the RFID technology market, which it has largely ignored since the 1990s.

“From a strategic perspective, we believe the transaction would make a lot of sense as it would more than double Motorola’s presence in the mobile enterprise market,” commented Oppenheimer analyst, Lawrence Harris, after first hearing about the planned acquisition.

Symbolâ€™s future as an independent entity has been subject to doubt since the tech bubble burst half a decade ago. There is little doubt, however, that the Long Island-based company is a strong player in the enterprise equipment market, with a 30% share of the market for handheld bar-code scanners, and a 41% slice of the RFID tag reader industry.

Telecommunications Industry News