Motorola splits in two: Motorola Mobility Holdings and Motorola Solutions

Motorola is no longer a single entity on the New York Stock Exchange: the company's split became official today, over a year after the initial announcement. Motorola Mobility Holdings now handles the company's mobile and consumer products business (like cell phones) while Motorola Solutions oversees next-generation communications products for enterprise and government (like police radios).

The two are now trading under MMI and MSI, respectively. At the time of writing, both stocks were up. Under the terms of the separation, stockholders received one share of MMI common stock for every eight shares of Motorola, after which the original company completed a 1-for-7 reverse stock split.

In the third quarter of 2010, the unified Motorola posted an operating profit of $3 million for its mobile devices unit for the first time in about four years, as the company shipped 9.1 million phones, including 3.8 million smartphones. Had the success come sooner, it's possible that the Motorola that was struggling in March 2008 would never have announced plans to split in two.

"We are pleased that Motorola Mobility has reached this important milestone," Sanjay Jha, MMI's CEO, said in a statement. "After more than two years of planning, today we begin operating as a financially strong, independent company trading on the New York Stock Exchange. We are well-positioned to build on the strong momentum we have in smartphones and end-to-end video solutions-and to take advantage of opportunities resulting from the convergence of media, mobility, computing and the Internet."