Motorola on Tuesday announced that its board of directors has approved the separation of Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (Motorola Mobility) from Motorola.

On Jan. 4, 2011, Motorola, Inc. will change its name to Motorola Solutions, Inc. and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MSI, and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. will begin trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol MMI.

In a joint statement, Greg Brown, Motorola co-CEO and CEO of Motorola Solutions, and Sanjay Jha, Motorola co-CEO and CEO of Motorola Mobility, said: "Today?s announcement marks another important milestone toward the upcoming separation that is expected to benefit Motorola, its stockholders, as well as each company?s respective customers and employees. We look forward to taking advantage of the opportunities before us as we begin the new year as two independent, publicly traded companies."

Motorola shareholders will receive one share of Motorola Mobility for every eight shares of current Motorola shares they hold, the Illinois-based company said in a statement.