Motorola, the beast with two backs, splits in two

The board of directors has been busy at Motorola. Busy.

Engadget is reporting that the Moto board is planning on splitting the behemoth into two independent, publicly traded companies. Entity one: Handsets. Entity two: The other stuff.

Engadget is right to point at Palm, I suspect:

Greg Brown, Motorola’s president and CEO, says the reason for the split is easy, “Creating two industry-leading companies will provide improved flexibility, more tailored capital structures, and increased management focus – as well as more targeted investment opportunities for our shareholders.”

Right, weren’t those the reasons for the Palm split? The matter is of course subject to regulatory approvals, but Motorola hopes that the transaction is complete “in 2009.”

We shall see.