Motorola is reportedly considering a sale of its Home & Networks Mobility unit, a division valued by analysts at US$3 billion – US$5 billion. First reported by the Wall Street Journal and later followed up by all major news agencies, the US vendor is believed to have hired Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to advise on its possible options for the unit, which earned US$467 million during the first nine months of the year on US$6 billion of revenue.

Motorola has three major units – mobile devices, enterprise mobility (barcode scanners, two-way radios and other products for business and government customers), and home and networks mobility (set-top boxes and networking equipment) – and all are struggling. The company unveiled plans in March 2008 to split itself into two separately publicly traded companies (with the mobile devices division standing alone), but later delayed the division as the financial crisis worsened. The Financial Times today notes that Motorola said in a statement the company does “not comment on rumour or speculation… Separation into two independent, publicly traded companies is the publicly stated long-term goal of Motorola. We remain committed to the separation goal and continue to believe that it is the right strategy to position Motorola for long-term success.”