In a conference call with reporters and industry analysts this morning. chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing was confident it can be done in less than two years. “Financial results are significantly improving, losses are down, revenue is up,” he said.
Before the deal closed he had said Motorola’s goal is to sell 100 million handsets by end of March 2015. “We are certain we will achieve this target … As Motorola benefits from Lenovo’s operational excellence and global reach, we are confident that the business can become profitable in four to six quarters.”
Asked bluntly about buying BlackBerry, he drew laughs saying he had to ask the CFO if there is money to do another deal, after not only inking the Motorola sale but also buying IBM’s x86 server business this month. While the company looks at all opportunities, an executive said, “as far as a very specific question we are not in a position to comment.”
Yang Yuanqing said that integrating the IBM and Lenovo teams will take a lot of effort. “If we want to do another big deal we will have to make a lot of money from the integration.”