With $36.8 billion in revenues, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) made the 2006 Fortune Global 500 list at #152. Motorola beat out its competitors Cisco Systems #241, Ericsson #319, and Alcatel #411. Nokia Corporation #131 remains the world's largest communications equipment company with $42.5 billion in revenues.

There is more good news. Motorola in the US has issued a co-branded cell phone for the Product RED high profile fundraising campaign led by Bono, among others. Motorola will donate up to 50% of the profits from RED cell phone purchases to Global Fund to help fight the spread of AIDS in Africa. Such cause-related shopping campaigns have been very successful in England. Bono and Project RED wish to replicate that success during the holiday shopping season in the US.

Motorola recently announced plans to acquire Symbol Technologies, maker of bar code and inventory-scanning technology, in a deal valued at $15 per Symbol share for a total of $3.9 billion. The deal is supposed to close by early 2007. If the deal falls through under certain circumstances, Symbol Technologies could end up owing Motorola as much as $130 million. Motorola may need to hope that the deal does in fact fall apart. Motorola can then use that money to pay off part of the $3.7 billion plus interest Iridium creditors are demanding Motorola give back. Iridium LLC paid more than $5 billion to its parent company Motorola to build Iridium's satellite system. Creditors allege Motorola knew at the time that Iridium would not be financially viable, but took the money anyway. At issue is just how much Motorola's senior management knew about Iridium's financial problems prior to its bankruptcy in 1999.