Run away!
‘Depend upon it, sir,’ said the lexicographer Dr Samuel Johnson, ‘when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.’
Thus the floundering Motorola board of directors when raider Carl Icahn’s dorsal fin stopped circling and came right at them.
As reported previously, Icahn initiated legal action to obtain documents relating to the company’s struggling mobile device business.
Motorola promptly announced the division would be spun off. Now they have requested Icahn’s advice on how to handle the separation.
The second fang of the lawsuit was Icahn’s demand for information about the personal use of a corporate jet by senior executives, following up an appeal to shareholders to vote for Icahn’s nominees at the annual stockholders meeting on 5th May.
The Motorola board blocked Icahn’s nominees last year. Now they have appointed Keith Meister, MD of Icahn investment funds and CEO of Icahn Enterprises, to serve on the board with immediate effect. William Hambrecht, founder, chairman and CEO of W.R. Hambrecht & Co, a second Icahn nominee, will be recommended for election at the annual shareholders meeting.
Having concentrated minds wonderfully, Icahn has now dropped the lawsuit.
