Hello, Moto? It’s Icahn calling. . .
TEXT OF STORY
BOB MOON: Billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn is trying to shake things up at Motorola, the No. 2 maker of cell phones. Later today, shareholders get their say on whether Icahn gets to do his bidding from the board room. Marketplace’s Jill Barshay reports.
JILL BARSHAY: Shareholders are meeting in Chicago this afternoon to vote for a board of directors. Motorola wants to keep the current board. Carl Icahn is upset with the company’s performance and wants a seat for himself.
Icahn is a shareholder activist who invests in troubled companies then demands a seat on the board and agitates for change. He zeroed in on Motorola because its cell phone business is failing and it has a lot of cash on hand. Icahn wants to fire the CEO if things don’t turn around.
Dan Raviv is a CBS reporter who wrote a book about Icahn’s failed bid for Marvel Comics.
DAN RAVIV: He reads everything. You can’t hide anything on your corporate balance sheet. Carl Icahn and his team will unearth it, will dig it out.
Motorola says Icahn is unqualified and doesn’t know anything about technology.
Observers say the vote could go either way.
In Los Angeles, I’m Jill Barshay for Marketplace.
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