The business stories that matter, by Fortune's Colin Barr
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April 7, 2008, 9:34 am

Icahn calls truce with Motorola

Motorola (MOT) and Carl Icahn have called a truce. The Schaumburg, Ill., tech giant agreed Monday to seat two of Icahn’s director nominees in exchange for Icahn’s agreement to drop a proxy fight. Motorola also agreed to “seek input” from Icahn on questions including who will head up Motorola’s struggling handset division once it is spun off to shareholders later this year. Motorola agreed last month to split off the handset and broadband business after a yearlong campaign by Icahn to force the company to reorganize itself.

Icahn, who owns more than 6% of Motorola through a series of purchases that began in 2007, when the stock was fetching nearly twice its recent trading price, celebrated Motorola’s decision. “This is a very positive step for Motorola in that shareholder representatives will have strong input into board decisions affecting the future of our company,” said Icahn. “In addition, the Motorola Board has also taken an important step forward for corporate governance in that the separated company which includes Mobile Devices will be essentially free from poison pills and staggered boards, both of which, in my opinion, serve to make democracy a travesty in corporate America.”

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Colin Barr covers business and finance for Fortune.com. Previously he was an editor at TheStreet.com and author of the weekly Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street column, and an editor at Dow Jones Newswires.
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