Motorola Shares

MelNicholls

Hi, I was given shares when working for Motorola back in 1996/7 but after several house moves I only have a couple of documents from Merill Lynch confirming this.  I am finding it impossible to pin down anyone else who might have administered the shares since '97.  The shares were give to employees as a sort of bonus.  Can anyone offer any help or advice at all on how I can locate my shares?  Do you have Motorola shares from back then?  Motorola's pension administrator has told be they cannot help me.  Any help would be much appreciated.  Thank you.

wmb194

MelNicholls said:

Hi, I was given shares when working for Motorola back in 1996/7 but after several house moves I only have a couple of documents from Merill Lynch confirming this.  I am finding it impossible to pin down anyone else who might have administered the shares since '97.  The shares were give to employees as a sort of bonus.  Can anyone offer any help or advice at all on how I can locate my shares?  Do you have Motorola shares from back then?  Motorola's pension administrator has told be they cannot help me.  Any help would be much appreciated.  Thank you.

I don't know but Motorola Mobility was bought by Google in 2011 for cash so you could try asking there. You might also need to look into the history of Motorola as I forget why it became Motorola Mobility - did it split into multiple companies?

Edit: Yeah, it looks like a real mess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola

Apodemus

I think the successor company would be Motorola Solutions Inc, which trades on the NYSE and is a S&P500 company. Stock ticker is MSI.  Presumably a search for that would come up with a registrar.

Apodemus

From the MSI website:

EQ Shareowner Services has been appointed as Transfer Agent, Registrar, Dividend Disbursing Agent, and Administrator of the Direct Stock Purchase Program.

Queries from registered shareholders and potential investors should be directed to:

EQ Shareowner Services

Telephone
1-800-704-4098 (Toll-free)
+1-651-450-4064 (International)
Shareowner Relations Specialists are available
Monday through Friday 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Central Time


Written Correspondence
Via Postal Service
EQ Shareowner Services
P.O. Box 64874
St. Paul, MN 55164-0874

MelNicholls

Thank you so much for your responses. 

As you say wmb194, it has been confusing so far.

I will write to the EQ Shareowner Services, Apodemus - tried calling the US twice and was on the line for ages just to be told it was before they were born! Had to smile!  I just hope that I have enough info for them and that they still hold some information on me. Must be there somewhere, surely?

Will post how I get on.  Thanks again.

maxsteam

MelNicholls said:

I only have a couple of documents from Merill Lynch confirming this.

The documents will give the exact name of the company in which you held shares (probably Motorola Inc). This is a very important piece of information without which it is difficult to give a constructive answer. Motorola is just a trading name which was/is used by a number of different companies including those mentioned by other posters, Lenovo and other companies. Hopefully you will also know the number of shares involved and some reference numbers. The company was split and taken over. At each of these corporate events, your shareholding will have changed, possible into shares in another company, possibly into cash. You should do some research into these corporate events and try to find out who is the registrar of whichever company you now hold shares in.

As to whether anyone else had shares in Motorola in 1996/7, there's some discussion by shareholders here
https://boards.fool.com/motorola-inc-msi-105753.aspx?mid=10000545&sort=postdate&days=365
That forum is also likely to hold some relevant information about the corporate events that will have effected your shareholding over the years. It will take time but, if you are certain that you have a valuable shareholding, it will be worth the effort to track it down.

MelNicholls

Thanks, maxstream.  Unfortunately, I don't know the number of shares. I hope that the discussion you mention will help me with the research as it feels a little like a needle in a haystack at the moment. This is a great help, though, and I'll keep at it.