Motorola mobile loses its (ex) head

Execs pack bags as ship flounders

Posted in Mobile, 10th March 2008 16:27 GMT

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Ousted head of mobile at Motorola Stu Reed has left the company, which is continuing to haemorrhage executive talent at an alarming rate.

Reed was bypassed when Greg Brown, president and chief executive officer, took direct control of the mobile division five weeks ago, and it seems that he's been arranging his departure since then. During his tenure Motorola's mobile division lost revenue and market share, failing to follow up the success of the RAZR and generally not producing enough interesting handsets with sufficient margin.

In a statement Greg Brown said: "We appreciate Stu’s many contributions to Motorola and wish him the best in the future." However, in an investor's briefing last week he explained that he was forced to take direct control of the handset division because it "needed more help and more hands-on experience, so I assumed that responsibility".

The departure follows the company's chief marketing officer Casey Keller, who left last week, and Ed Zander's ousting as CEO last year - which was itself followed by the resignation of CTO Padmasree Warrior.

It's hard to keep staff when the going gets tough - no one wants to be there to turn out the lights. But none of these boardroom shenanigans are going to make Motorola's mobile division any more attractive as an acquisition target. ®

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