Motorola announced that it has settled litigation with activist investor Carl Icahn and agreed to name two of Icahn’s nominees to its board of directors.
Motorola has reversed its earlier rejection of Keith Meister, managing director of the Icahn investment funds, and said that Meister now has an immediate seat on the board. Motorola also accepted Icahn’s nomination of William Hambrecht, CEO of WR Hambrecht. Hambrecht will be nominated for election to the board at the company’s annual shareholding meeting.
Motorola also said that it will seek input from Icahn regarding plans to split the company in two and its search for a head of the new cell phone business.
In a statement, Icahn said: “This is a very positive step for Motorola in that shareholder representatives will have strong input into board decisions affecting the future of our company.”