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Uh oh. MOTO's ZNDR Is In TRBL


Posted by Eric Zeman, Jul 12, 2007 09:41 AM

Are we really surprised to see news that Motorola CEO Ed Zander may be forced out of the top chair? With the profit warning issued yesterday that Motorola's handset business will be in the red for the entire year, now is probably a good time to oust the CMDR of MOTO.

The news from Schaumburg wasn't so rosy. Motorola extended the losses of the first quarter into the second quarter, and went on to predict that the mobile device leg of the business will remain in the red for the rest of the year. It blames lower sales volumes in Asia and Europe for the lowered outlook. While Motorola's other businesses, the Connected Home Solutions and Networks & Enterprise, will meet predictions, it is not enough to save Zander's job.

It was sheer dumb luck that Ed Zander took over as the CEO of Motorola right as the first iteration of the RAZR phone was hitting the market. He didn't have anything to do with developing that product from the ground up. But he sure took advantage of that phone, with its then-hip, four-letter, all-cap spelling. Sure, it was a hit. And he rode that wave of success for as long as possible. But then successors to the RAZR failed to find the same cache, and Motorola had to compensate by lowering prices to boost sales volumes. With the aggressive battle between it and Nokia for volumes--and dominance--the bottom line suffered.

Signs of trouble started appearing early this year. First, Ron Garriques, the former head of the mobile device unit, left the company for a spot at Dell. Then some C-level execs were shuffled to and fro. Just a short while ago, Motorola stakeholder Carl Icahn attempted to force himself onto the Motorola's board in a proxy battle. He lost narrowly. It is obvious that Wall Street, as well as shareholders, are anxious to see Ed go.

Now that we've seen the PEBL, ROKR, RIZR and KRZR (none of which have captured the same success as the original RAZR, which sold over 50 million units), I think it's time the naming conventions, and Ed, retire from the Motorola line up.

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