Motorola, Inc. on Tuesday reported a net loss of US$3.6 billion, or 1.57 dollars per share, in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The Chicago suburb-based company also announced that its Board of Directors voted to suspend the declaration of quarterly cash dividends on the company's common stock.

Its fourth-quarter sales fell 26 percent to US$7.1 billion. The company's mobile devices segment sales were US$2.35 billion, down 51 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. In October, Motorola delayed plans to split off its phone unit due to the global economic woes.

Motorola shipped 19.2 million handsets in the fourth quarter, down from 41 million in the same period of 2007. Motorola has been losing market shares faster than its competitors.

Last month, Motorola said it would further shave 4,000 workers, as the embattled company struggled to weather the market slump.

The company's outlook for the first quarter is a loss of 10 cents to 12 cents per share.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2009)