Motorola director quits firm
MOTOROLA director William R Hambrecht (pictured right) has quit the company just two days after Google made a shock $12.5bn (£7.6bn) bid for the phonemaker.
Hambrecht had been installed on the board by activist investor Carl Icahn, who had campaigned for the firm to be split in half, which came to fruition in December.
The 76-year-old investment banker said: “I am delighted with the transaction we entered into with Google and I look forward to seeing the benefits and new opportunities this partnership creates.”
Motorola boss Sanjay Jha did not give a reason for Hambrecht’s departure, but paid tribute to the director in a statement: “He played an instrumental role in the separation of Motorola into two independent publicly-traded companies, as well as in our recent milestone transaction with Google.”
The departure leaves Motorola with just nine directors.
Google says it will run Motorola as a separate entity following its acquisition, which is still pending regulatory approval.
Google’s stock dropped about one per cent yesterday, taking its total loss since announcing the bid on Monday to more than six per cent.
Motorola Mobility’s New York-listed shares ticked up slightly yesterday, having surged 50 per cent on news of the bid on Monday.