Motorola adds its COO, Fox executive to board

New York, July 26: Motorola Inc. said it added two new board members Greg Brown, as its chief operating officer, and Anthony Vinciquerra, the chief executive officer of Fox Networks Group, a unit of News Corp.

The board changes come after Motorola was relegated to third place from second in the global mobile phone market in the second quarter, when the company posted its second consecutive quarterly loss on weak handset sales.

Some investors had speculated that the poor performance could result in management changes, including the ouster of Chief Executive Ed Zander. Motorola denied it was looking for a change in leadership.

Brown was named COO of the Schaumburg, Illinois-based mobile phone maker in March and has served with the company since 2003.

Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Walkley said many investors had assumed Brown, who previously headed Motorola's network equipment business, would get a board seat as a result of his promotion.

''Some people believe he could be Zander's eventual successor,'' Walkley said. ''If you're going internal, Greg is the one people would bet on.'' Motorola, which has been losing market share to rivals such as Nokia and Samsung Electronics, has attracted the attention of activist shareholders.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn failed to win a seat on Motorola's board earlier this year.

Reuters

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