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

CEO Watch - Ed Zander, Motorola Remains A Survivor

Ville Heiskanen in a Bloomberg article today examined embattled, but so far triumphant, CEO of Motorola, Edward Zander. Zander after an uncertain battle has managed to survive Carl Icahn's attempts to get him out. According to Heiskanen, Zander has actually developed some breathing room for his position and for Motorola MOT (NYSE). Zander's changes in management and the launch of the newest Razr phones were portrayed as successful in the article. It is interesting when you consider many of the negative reviews of Motorola's newest Razr phones as well as experts assessment of Zander's management changes and management of the company.

I would not declare victory yet, if I were Zander. Stay tuned.

For more:

Best Graduate School Guide
Telecommunications News
Mobile Tech Today

Business Week Take on Motorola's Zanders Future

A story in BusinessWeek today by Roger Crockett is a superb take on the continuing viability of Edward J. Zander as CEO of Motorola. Zander and the board remain under intense pressure to turn Motorola around.

Take a look.