SCHAUMBURG, IL - Motorola's attempts to sell its handset division to increase value is apparently having the opposite effect.

Three weeks after the company announced that it was considering the sale or spinoff of its mobile division, no buyer has come forward. Handset vendors Nokia, Samsung Electronics and LG have all said they're not interested, and the consumer electronics companies that analysts had expected to express interest so far haven't.  The lack of a sale is apparently affecting Motorola's stock price, which has dropped 11% in the last several weeks.

Further problems for a sale may exist in the fact that Motorola also has government service contracts. Recently, The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a panel led by the U.S. Treasury Secretary that reviews corporate deals with foreign buyers, rejected approval of the sale of 3Com Corp. to China's Huawei Technologies, causing Huawei to pull their offer.

So according to industry experts, any foreign company from China to the Middle East would likely think twice before negotiating with a firm such as Motorola with U.S. government contracts.

Analysts who follow the industry also see the company's mobile division as a tough sell. "If you take a cool-headed approach to the handset business, I don't think any major industry player will want it," said Greg Roh, analyst at Korea Investment & Securities. "A takeover and ensuing restructuring could be costly and dangerous."

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