Motorola reverts to Plan A: splitting into two publicly traded companies

Motorola is resuming efforts to split the electronics manufacturer into two publicly traded companies. Co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha say they are moving to spin off the cell phone business, leaving cable television set-top boxes, police radios and mobile-computing and cellular-network gear together in a stand-alone company. The plan represents a big bet that investors will buy Motorola's unproven smartphone business and another public company comprising slow-growing older businesses. The key to the deal is showing that the phone business, which has lost money since 2007, is back in the black for the long haul.