Management Changes At Motorola Continue, CMO Out

Motorola MOT (NYSE) continues to try and find new ways to resolve its mobile phone related problems. According to a story by Wallin Wong in the Chicago Tribune earlier today,

Motorola confirmed Thursday that Kenneth "Casey" Keller, who had been marketing chief since October 2006, departed the company on Feb. 29. The company is not replacing him. Instead, Keller's two former deputies, Eduardo Conrado and Jeremy Dale, will now report directly to the presidents of their divisions.

... Motorola is searching for a new mobile devices head and is conducting a broad restructuring that could involve splitting the handset division from its other businesses.

The confirmation comes just after it became known that activist shareholder and major Motorola critic, Carl Icahn, increased his ownership of Motorola shares from 5% to over 6%. Pressures continue to build from a number of fronts on Motorola's newest CEO, Greg Brown, as he tries to find a formula to right the ship.

Keep a close eye on the company and moves taken by the CEO and Ichan.

For more:

BloggingStocks 3/7

More Management Changes At Motorola

Motorola's MOT (NYSE) latest management change, the selection of a new CFO has done little to ease concerns about the company. Yesterday, Motorola announced the selection of Paul Liska as its new CFO. Liska replaces Tom Meredith, the acting CFO who was put in the position upon the retirement of David Devonshire on April 1, 2007. Liska was a private equity specialist who was previously a partner at Ripplewood Holdings and Mid Ocean Partners. He was also the former CFO of Sears Roebuck and was involved in the 2003 sale of the firm's credit card business to Citibank. He is definitely an interesting choice when you consider that Motorola has been rumored to be seeking the sale or splitting of its mobile handset business. Liska has the credentials to be quite helpful in this type of undertaking.

We will just have to wait and see how Liska and Motorola's newest CEO, Greg Brown work together to solve the numerous difficulties facing the company. According to the Wall Street Journal,

Brown has known Liska for a decade.

Keep a close eye on Liska as he jumps aboard March 1, and tries to make sense of the problems and possible opportunities facing Motorola.

For more:

Barron's blog
Dealscape
Mobile Burn
TheStreet.com
Bloomberg
BloggingStocks
Silicon Alley Insider
Chicago Tribune

CEO Watch - Edward Zander, Motorola, Update 1

Motorola early today announced that CEO Edward J. Zander would resign January 1 and be replaced by chief operating officer Greg Brown. Brown joined Motorola in 2003 and was promoted to COO and President in March. Zander has been under intense pressure for some time now. He was included on my CEO Watch back in October. Motorola has been struggling for a while and has successfully faced down activist shareholders (e.g., Carl Icahn) who have been demanding change at the firm. For a period of time, Zander surprised most experts who thought he would be forced out or lose control to Icahn. As the company has continued to see profits decline and lose market share to rivals, however, Zander's position became more and more tenuous. Zander will remain chairman until his term expires later next year.

Before working at Motorola, Brown worked at Ameritech and AT&T.

For more:

Deal Journal (Dec 6)
Bloomberg Update 5
BBC
PR Newswire (Carl Icahn)
Bloomberg
CNN Money
TheStreet.com