Zebra Pays $3.5 Billion for Motorola Tracking Technology

Zebra Technologies is buying a unit of Motorola Solutions for $3.45 billion, borrowing most of the amount for a bet on mobile-computing services for businesses that need to track employees and products.

Zebra plans to fund the deal with about $200 million of cash and $3.25 billion in new debt. That’s almost as much as Zebra itself is worth, based on the closing stock price, which valued the company at about $3.4 billion. Both companies offer bar-code scanning, radio-frequency identification and other technology that companies can use to control their inventory, whether it’s retailers stocking shelves or hospitals recording doses of medicine.

Motorola also has specialized tablets and computers for various industries.