Sources inform ''Globes'' that Motorola Israel Ltd. is in talks to sell its Arad factory to Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group (Taiwan: 2317; HKSE: 2038), which designs, develops, manufactures, and assembles components for computers, consumer electronic, and communications products. The company's customers include Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL), Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE; TSE:6758), Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT), and Nintendo Co. Ltd. (TSE: 7974; Nasdaq: NTDOY; DAX: NTO).
Foxconn manufactures Apple iPhones, iPods, and Mini-Macs, Sony's Playstation 2 and 3, and Microsoft's Xbox 360, and Motorola mobile telephones. Founded in 1974, the company has a market cap of $19 billion and 200,000 employees.
Foxconn is not a household name, since the brand does not appear on its products, which bear the brands of its customers.
Motorola Israel did not deny the report, saying, "Motorola declines to comment on these and other matters relating to the factory." The company is reportedly also in talks with other possible buyers, some of them from Israel.
Denying the reports, Motorola Israel's outgoing general manager Elisha Yanay told "Globes", "The factory will not be closed down and hundreds of employees won't be fired. It's simply not true."
A source at the factory told "Globes", "The situation at the factory has not been good for a long time. There's no work. Almost no orders are coming in, there are no products, and only a few units of the Spirit are produced. Motorola has wanted to sell the factory for years. This isn't new, and there's no news in this."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 12, 2010
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