Zander’s going-away party at Motorola

Motorola (MOT) shares rose early Friday on news that CEO Ed Zander is finally on his way out. His departure follows a year of management shakeups and hefty losses in the company’s once-hot handset business, which has foundered since the Razr craze lost its edge last year. Investors including Carl Icahn have been calling for Zander’s head throughout 2007, as Motorola stock lost more than 20% of its value amid market share losses to rival Nokia (NOK).

Joan Lappin, an investor at Gramercy Capital and a Zander critic who sold her Motorola shares last year, told Fortune earlier this month that she knew Zander had lost his grip in January, when he rode into a press briefing at a tech conference on a yellow bicycle. Seeing Zander lead a once-strong company into the wilderness, she said, made her feel “sick in the heart.”

As happy as some people are to see Zander leave, Motorola stock gave up much of its early gains and was up just 1% heading toward midday. Citi analyst Jim Suva notes that while Motorola didn’t comment on how its fourth quarter is going, he finds himself wondering “if today’s announcement signals yet another disappointment for the handset segment and more meaningful changes that have to occur.”

That said, the official word from Motorola isn’t that Zander is leaving because of investor discontent. No sir. He’s just eager to get on with the rest of his life. “Next year marks my 40th year in the technology industry,” he said in Motorola’s press release. “This is the right time for me to move on to the next phase in my life and spend more time with my family.”

Replacing Zander as CEO will be Motorola’s president and operating chief, Greg Brown. He took those roles this past spring after the depth of Motorola’s handset swoon became evident. Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky notes that Greg Brown is the younger brother of Dick Brown, who was CEO at Cable & Wireless in the U.K. before he landed in 1999 at EDS (EDS). 

Dick Brown was profiled by Carol Loomis in Fortune back in February 2003, after his turnaround plan at the outsourcing firm unraveled under the weight of a massive earnings shortfall. Dick Brown would leave EDS the next month, but in the meantime the problems gave him ample opportunity to pursue what he called “coaching moments” with other staffers. It’s a good bet his younger brother will be having a few of those at Motorola in coming months, too.