Activist investor Carl Icahn is putting even more pressure on Motorola to get a seat on the company's board by calling the company "troubled" and characterizing recent comments by Motorola CEO Ed Zander as "something straight out of Alice in Wonderland" in a letter to company shareholders. According to the report in The Wall Street Journal, the remarks regarding Ed Zander are the first personal comments directed at Zander since Icahn began buying shares in the company in January. Icahn goes on to say that "Motorola has stumbled, and stumbled badly." His Alice in Wonderland remark refers to comments Zander reportedly made regarding Motorola's inability to dictate the pricing of handsets sold through wireless carriers in the U.S. Zander allegedly said: "I love my job. I hate my customers." Where customers refer to mobile carriers.
For more on Icahn's letter:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)