Motorola wants to focus on cells, sell off the rest: Why spinoff plan is a bad call

Motorola (MOT), the once-soaring cell phone maker now attempting a comeback, is looking to offload its television set-top box and business equipment unit for $4.5 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. The plan's proponents argue it would leave a more streamlined business focusing on the white-hot mobile space, where the company has garnered good reviews for its new Droid phone.

But Jim Kelleher, an analyst with Argus Research, says the spinoff would be a mistake for Motorola. The company -- and its shareholders -- would be better served by leaving the company intact for now, he says. "If the company splits up, the parts would be exposed to cyclical tornadoes," Kelleher told DailyFinance. "Also, they would lose a lot of shared best practices, shared intellectual property and shared research and development. All these things would be isolated."