Motricity trims more fat, spins off e-book biz

Motricity continued to streamline its business, spinning off its retail electronic book business to eBook seller Fictionwise Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
The eReader business was a division of PowerByHand, a Tennessee startup that merged with North Carolina’s PinPoint Networks four years ago to form Motricity. Fictionwise said it will maintain eReader.com as an independent Web site and plans to expand the business’s offerings to a broader range of handheld devices.
Motricity has trimmed the fat from its company in the last couple of years even as it has aggressively expanded its wireless business. The Durham, N.C.-based firm slashed 50 jobs a year ago in a surprisingly drastic move, but has spent substantial sums to acquire key players such as GoldPocket Wireless and and InfoSpace Inc.’s mobile division.