Video Kaun?

Ask anyone in the telecom industry on what he thought of Videocon's bid to buy out Motorola's handset business and chances are that you may get a smirk for an answer. No one gives Videocon's maverick owner Venugopal Dhoot any chance of being successful in this latest venture for two reasons. First - the money. Despite the huge losses it has suffered over the past few years. Motorola's handset business is still worth 4 billlion dollars. Given that Dhoot has shelled out Rs 1500 crore for acquiring telecom licences and will have to cough up another 5-6000 crore very quickly to roll out the services, it seems tough for him to raise the money required. Secondly, Videocon is an unknown entity in the international scene. When the news broke out that Dhoot has sent an expression of interest to Motorola, most of the global pundits were asking "Video who?" Most of the industry, including Motorola executives first reaction was that it was an April Fool's day joke. Others are dubbing it as a cheap publicity stunt by Dhoot. Motorola sources said that even if Dhoots was serious it was unlikely that they would sell the brand to Videocon since there was a huge gap in the brand value and visibility between the two companies. "We will have better owners" is what Motorola sources say. If Dhoot manages to acquire Motorola he will have a huge challenge given that the global market is dominated by Nokia and others like Sony Ericsson. After the sucess of its razr handsets, Motorola has not been able to bring any product that has had success in the market. Over the last year Motorola has dropped from the second largest handset maker to the third largest. Its market share in India, the fastest growing mobile market, is dismally low in single digits. Dhoot says that having a handset business is in synergy with his existing plans for telecom services and retail. But thats only in India. What will Dhoot do to kick back Motorola's poistion in the global market where margins are very thin and competition is high? For Videocon this is going to be a huge challenge.