Motorola injects new blood in anticipation of split into two companies next year

Embattled Chicago-based telecoms manufacturer, Motorola, appears to be systematically re-inventing itself following numerous quarters of financial losses and human capital flight. Earlier this week the manufacturer announced the appointment of Sanjay Jha as co-chief executive officer of Motorola and CEO of Motorola’s ailing Mobile Devices business, effective immediately. Jha will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s Mobile Devices business and report directly to the board.

Sanjay Jha has his work cut out for him, charged with turning around Motorola’s misfiring handset division

Greg Brown became president and CEO of Motorola effective January 1, 2008 and the appointment of Jha will see the two executives serve as co-CEOs of Motorola. Brown has been named CEO of Motorola’s Broadband Mobility Solutions business, which consists of the Home & Networks Mobility and Enterprise Mobility Solutions businesses. Brown and Jha will share responsibility for Motorola as it moves towards separating into two independent, publicly-traded companies.

Jha, age 45, most recently served as chief operating officer of Qualcomm where he was responsible for overseeing corporate research and development and Qualcomm Flarion Technologies. Jha also served as president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, Qualcomm’s chipset and software division.

Jha began his career at Qualcomm in 1994. He was promoted to vice president of engineering in 1997, and then to senior vice president of engineering in 1998. He became executive vice president of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies in 2003. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Jha held lead design engineering roles with Brooktree Corporation, San Diego, and GEC Hirst Research Labs, London, England.

Having seen high-profile departures of senior executives in recent years, including Stu Reed (former president of mobile devices), Padmasree Warrior (former chief technology officer), and Rom Garriques (another former president of mobile devices), the appointment of Jha is a significant step towards stemming the fallout from Motorola’s perceived loss of competitive focus.

The manufacturer’s earnings results, announced at the end of last month, also reflected improvement in Q208, beating analysts’ forecasts. The mobile devices division continues to struggle, reporting a 22 per cent slide in revenues year-on-year to US$3.33 billion in Q208 to end-June. Mobile devices clocked up an operating loss of US$346 million, an increase on the US$332 million loss recorded for the same period in 2007.

Motorola recorded the shipment of 28.1 million handsets during the quarter, reportedly maintaining its market share.

Overall sales at Motorola were down seven per cent year-on-year to US$8.1 billion, with the supplier recording a net profit of US$4 million, up from a loss of US$28 million in Q207.

Separately, Motorola announced an investment in Amobee Media Systems, a company that develops advertising solutions for mobile operators. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed. The Amobee media system can dynamically insert targeted, interactive advertisements into all types of mobile entertainment and communication channels, including videos, music, messaging, games and WAP, using a single, telco-grade ad-serving infrastructure.