Icahn bid for Moto board seat fails

Though the vote tally is not yet official, billionaire investor Carl Icahn conceded last night that he hadn’t garnered the necessary support to take over a Motorola board seat in his proxy fight with the handset giant.

In a statement, Icahn said that the preliminary results had shown that he didn’t get the required votes to assume a directorship; the final vote totals won’t be known for weeks, however, as they will be independently audited. Icahn waged a months-long battle with Motorola management for the board seat, buying with the help of his affiliates almost 3% of Moto’s outstanding stock and gaining the backing of several influential shareholder advisory groups. Motorola, led by CEO Ed Zander, sought to block his election to the board sending out letters to shareholders, claiming Icahn had neither the time nor the experience to be an effective leader at the technology-driven company.

The annual meeting in the Art Institute of Chicago’s auditorium last night lasted more than two hours with Icahn making his case to a packed house. Icahn said he would focus the company on profitability and shareholder value, helping to ease the wild swings in performance as Motorola gains and loses market share to its global competitors.

While Icahn had gained the support of numerous shareholder groups, he was hurt earlier this week when a large institutional shareholder, the California Public Employees Retirement, said it would back Motorola management and the current slate of directors up for re-election. Icahn garnered much of his support from smaller investors.