Is Motorola Up For Sale?Is Motorola Up For Sale?

While everyone was following the Palm rumors this week, a few bloggers claimed that Motorola might be up for sale, too.Motorola's shares took a big hit as the company lowered its sales expectations. Billionaire investor Carl Ichan subsequently raised his stake in the company as he continues to push for a board seat at Motorola. What does all of this mean?

It could mean that Motorola is up for sale. But if it does, that would be one heck of a deal. Motorola has a market cap of around $45 billion or so (as of Tuesday this week). But, before you get too cynical, Motorola does have $11 billion in cash balance, making it a potentially juicy target, especially for a private equity firm.

This, combined with CEO Ed Zander's decision to cancel his keynote appearance at CTIA Wireless, could mean there is something in the works even bigger than a buyout of Palm.

What do you think? Is Motorola up for sale? Or is this all just buzz designed to help Motorola fight its weak financials?