Motorola holders approve say-on-pay, berate CEO

By Nick Carey

ROSEMONT, Ill., May 5 (Reuters) - Motorola Inc (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) shareholders approved a "say-on-pay" proposal and blasted management's performance at the world's third-biggest mobile phone maker's annual meeting on Monday.

Under a barrage of criticism from investors, company management promised it was working to "refresh" its product portfolio to attract consumers to its mobile phones again.

While less contentious than last year's meeting when Motorola was embroiled in a proxy battle with activist investor Carl Icahn, shareholders jumped at the chance to vent spleen over the company's weak performance and beleaguered stock.

"I think we need to change the CEO," Heidi Liebwein, a shareholder for 20 years, told Reuters. "Good or bad, everything starts at the top."

Motorola has been losing out to rivals such as Nokia Oyj (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research), Samsung Electronics (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) and LG Electronics (066570.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) for more than a year as it has been slow to deliver advanced phones with high-speed Web links and has yet to create a successor to its once-lauded Razr phone, launched in 2004.

The Schaumburg, Illinois company has lost about 60 percent of its market value since mid-October 2006 when it started to disappoint investors. Its cell phone market share has fallen to less than half its peak of 23.3 percent at the end of 2006.

"Look at how far the stock is down. That's why I'm unhappy," Edward Bell, a Motorola shareholder for at least eight years, told Reuters. "We need a new leadership at this company that's going produce."

Greg Brown took over as CEO in January, replacing Ed Zander, who was also criticized sharply by investors on Monday.