Icahn asks Motorola shareholders to support his nomination to the company's board of directors

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., April 18 - In a letter to fellow Motorola Inc. shareholders, Carl Icahn asked for support for his nomination to the company's board of directors, vowing to serve as "an active, engaged director of Motorola, unafraid to demand management accountability and to ask the tough questions that appear to me to have gone unasked."

Icahn questioned Motorola's resistance to having him on the board given his "expertise in finance and overall business judgment" as well as his success in industries as diverse as telecom, automotive, oil and gas, gaming, real estate and biotechnology.

Motorola's earnings conference call on Wednesday "reaffirmed my belief that Motorola has a passive and reactive board, which failed to timely steer management in the right direction, and carries significant responsibility for the predicament in which Motorola finds itself," Icahn added.

Icahn pointed out that the company's stock fell from a high of $26.20 in October as the result of problems in Motorola's mobile devices business, leading to a loss of $20 billion in shareholder value, according to Icahn.

In response to critics who say shareholder activists destroy "collegiality," Icahn said "that boards are neither fraternities nor private clubs. Boards composed of 'colleagues' that are friendly to management and fail to question poor performance or demand accountability are, in my view, the greatest threat to the vitality of our economic system."

On Feb. 28, Icahn announced plans to acquire between $119.7 million and $500 million of Motorola's common stock.

Motorola is a wireless and broadband communications company based in Schaumburg, Ill.

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