Motorola and Ichan Settle

123jump.com Staff
07 Apr, 2008
New York City

Motorola agreed to appoint key adviser to Carl Ichan on its board immediately and nominate WR Hambrecht at the upcoming meeting of shareholders. Ichan will drop all litigation and not solicit additional information ahead of annual shareholder meeting. Motorola, in an apparent set-back will look for advice from hostile investor Ichan in selecting top executives at Motorola and soon to be separated its mobile phone unit.

[R]2:00PM New York – Motorola relents after hostile investors Ichan demands records of board appointment in litigation.[/R]

Motorola and Carl Ichan controlled investor group have reached an agreement to drop all pending litigation and nominate two board members for election at the upcoming shareholder meeting.

Keith Meister, Carl Ichan confidant and executive at two companies controlled by Ichan will be appointed on the board immediately. Carl Ichan group of investors control 6.4% or 144.56 million common stock in Motorola. William R Hambrecht, chairman of WR Hambrecht & Company will be the other person nominated for board of director approval at the next annual shareholder meeting.

The agreement also requires the company to seek Ichan advice in selecting chief executive and head of mobile business unit and requires him not to solicit proxies from shareholders ahead of the meeting.

After urging and under legal threats from Ichan, Motorola agreed to separate its mobile business unit without the staggered board and poison pill.

Motorola ((MOT)) stock rose 19 cents to $9.87 in today’s trading and has steadily declined from
High of $26 in September of 2007.

Greg Brown, president and chief executive officer said, “We look forward to continuing the process we announced on March 26 to create two independent publicly-traded companies and we are pleased to avoid a costly and distracting proxy contest.”