Moto loses marketing chief
07 March 2008
Moto loses marketing chief
Beleaguered kit vendor Motorola said Friday that it has lost its marketing chief Kenneth Keller.
Keller, who has been with the company just 18 months, will be replaced by two other executives: Jeremy Dale, marketing chief for the mobile devices unit; and Eduardo Conrado, marketer for the rest of the company, covering set top boxes and networking kit.
Earlier this week, corporate raider Carl Icahn maintained pressure on the company, increasing his holding in the company by 1.3 per cent.
Moto revealed that Icahn's stake had increased to 6.3 per cent in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
The company has revealed that it had received word from Icahn that he intends to nominate a slate of four directors to stand for election at the company's 2008 annual stockholders meeting. Last year, the billionaire businessman failed in his bid to win a seat on the board of Motorola.
The move comes as Greg Brown, president and CEO, announced that Motorola is considering spinning off its beleaguered Mobile Devices business from the rest of the group.
Since the heady days of the [first] RAZR super hit, back in 2005, the handsets division has consistently underperformed, failing to come up with another blockbuster device. Fourth quarter sales at the Mobile Devices division were down 38 per cent to $4.8bn with operating loss dropping to $388m, compared with operating earnings of $341million in the year ago quarter. During the last three months of 2007, the company shipped 40.9 million handsets.
For the full year, Motorola in its entirety, recorded a net loss of $49m, compared to a profit of 3.6bn in 2006, largely due to the ailing devices segment.
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