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Mar. 26, 2008

Carl Icahn, a well-known activist investor that owns a minority stake in Motorola has refused the two board seats the struggling handset manufacturer offered him as a compromise.

Additionally, Icahn has filed a law suit against the company's board, claiming Motorola refused to hand over important documents related to its handset business.

For its defense, Motorola called Icahn’s suit a “further unnecessary distraction from our normal day-to-day business.”

Motorola has said that it offered Icahn access to the information and documents he's asking for under “a customary confidentiality agreement," but Icahn categorically refused the terms.

The wireless handset manufacturer offered two of Icahn’s candidates seats on the company’s board, but rejected candidate Keith Meister, chief executive of Icahn Enterprises.

Icahn said that Motorola wants to keep Meister off the board “for no real reason other than the most obvious one...”

In a replay of last year’s fight to gain control of Motorola, Icahn has nominated four potential board members to Motorola’s current board.

Some say Carl Icahn still has a reputation of being a Wall Street corporate raider for some of his previous actions in trying to take control of public companies over the last twenty-two years.

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Source: Motorola Inc.