Motorola (MOT) Caves To Icahn Who May Find Little Value Left

Carl Icahn and friends will get two seats on the Motorola (MOT) board, ending fight by the company to keep him out. According to Motorola William R. Hambrecht, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of WR Hambrecht + Co. and co-founder of Hambrecht & Quist, and Keith Meister, a managing director of the Icahn investment funds and principal executive officer of Icahn Enterprises, will be nominated for election to Motorola’s Board of Directors at the 2008 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

As part of the settlement agreement, all pending litigation between Motorola and Carl Icahn will be dismissed

Icahn may not be happy with what his representatives see when they get on board. Motorola’s handset division is shrinking so fast that its revenue will be well below the $19 billion it did last year and its loss should be up sharply from the $1 billion deficit for that same period.

The MOT handset business may only be worth a couple of dollars a share, meaning that the company could be overvalued at its current share price.

Douglas A. McIntyre