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SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (AP)—Motorola Inc. has selected former Sun Microsystems Inc. executive Edward J. Zander as its new chairman and chief executive, succeeding Christopher B. Galvin, who is retiring after frequent clashes with the companys board.
The Motorola board announced Tuesday that Zander, 56, was elected unanimously. Zander assumes the new positions on Jan. 5, 2004.
Motorola president and chief operating officer Mike Zafirovski, 50, also was considered a leading contender for the post and the only internal candidate.
In early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Motorola shares were up 29 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $13.08.
Zander is a managing director at Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm with offices in Menlo Park, Calif., and New York. He joined the firm this year.
Before that, Zander held senior management posts at Apollo Computer and Data General and joined Sun Microsystems in 1987 and eventually headed its software group. He was president and chief operating officer of Sun when he left in June 2002.
John Pepper Jr., a Motorola director and chairman of the CEO search committee, said in a statement that Zander “is recognized as one of the most outstanding business leaders and intellects in the field of technology and business operations.”
In his own statement, Zander said he was honored to be chosen to lead a company he called “a global icon with a powerful base of technology, customers and employee assets that are invaluable to millions of users everyday.”
After Galvins September announcement that he planned to retire, the company announced it would split off its semiconductor division and focus more on its core equipment business. Troubles continued in the cell phone division, though, as the company acknowledged it would not make it to market with its first camera phones in time for the holiday shopping season.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola, which sold more than half the worlds cell phones in the early 1990s, has fallen far behind Finlands Nokia and has been struggling to regain its past dominance. A huge restructuring and cost-slashing effort returned it to profitability in 2002 after two years of losses. But a slowed economy and sluggish demand have stymied its recovery.
The company has eliminated nearly 60,000 jobs since August 2000 and is seeking to shrink costs further by years end.