Motorola Chief Executive Greg Brown is to take direct control of the company’s handset division following news last week that the vendor is considering selling or spinning off the business. Brown succeeds Stu Reed, who was appointed last July and will stay at Motorola and work closely with the Chief Executive on plans for the unit’s recovery.

Meanwhile activist investor Carl Icahn yesterday named the four people he is nominating to the board of Motorola, saying he hopes gaining representatives on the board will ensure the company follows through on plans to spin off or sell its mobile phone division. Mr Icahn, who holds 5% of Motorola shares and has been pushing for a breakup of the company for the last year, identified the nominees as former Viacom chief Frank Biondi Jnr, underwriter William R. Hambrecht, professor Lionel C. Kimerling, and Keith Meister, MD of the Icahn investment funds.