Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc., the wireless handset maker that hopes to complete its $12.5 billion merger with Google Inc. early this year, on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter loss.
Motorola Mobility reported a loss of $80 million in what marked a reversal from the year-ago period when the company earned $80 million. Revenues of $3.436 billion were basically flat compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 ($3.425 billion).
During the fourth quarter, the company shipped 10.5 million mobile devices, including 5.3 million smartphones and 200,000 tablet computers. Motorola Mobility's chief executive, Sanjay Jha, said consumers responded favorably its RAZR smartphone.
Motorola Mobility anticipates that Google's acquisition of the company will close early this year pending regulatory approvals in several countries. The deal would strengthen Google's position in the wireless business where it already owns the trendy Android operating system for smartphones and tablet computers.
