Motorola Mobility, which is in the process of being acquired by Google, saw sales in its cable-focused Home group dip 10% in the third quarter of 2011, with set-top unit shipments declining 3% year over year.
The company's Home segment revenue in the third quarter was $825 million, compared with $912 million in the year-ago period. Operating earnings were $54 million, compared with $49 million in the year-ago quarter. For the first nine months of the year, Home revenue of $2.6 billion was identical to the same period in 2010.
Motorola Mobility did not host an earnings call to discuss the Q3 results.
Overall, Motorola Mobility posted net revenue of $3.3 billion in the third quarter of 2011, up 11% year over year on a lift in sales in the company's mobile devices group. Net loss in the third quarter of 2011 was $32 million ($0.11 per share) compared with a net loss of $34 million in the third quarter of 2010.
Google on Aug. 15 announced an offer to acquire Motorola Mobility in a deal worth $12.5 billion in cash, with the Internet giant primarily looking to obtain Motorola's patent portfolio. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.
Motorola Mobility's third quarter 2011 results included approximately $18 million of expenses attributable to the planned merger. The deal still requires the approval of Motorola Mobility's stockholders, who will vote on the transaction Nov. 17, as well as regulatory approvals in the U.S. and elsewhere.
In the U.S., Motorola Mobility and Google have each received a "request for additional information and documentary material" (commonly referred to as a "second request") from the Department of Justice.
In the third quarter, Motorola Mobility's Mobile Devices sales climbed 20%, to $2.4 billion, while the segment posted an operating loss of $41 million (compared with an operating loss of $43 million in the year-ago quarter).
The company shipped a total of 11.6 million mobile devices, including 4.8 million Android-based smartphones and about 100,000 Motorola Xoom tablets. Overall, that's up 27% from the third quarter of 2010, when the company shipped 9.1 million mobile devices.
