Icahn Boosts Stake in Motorola Again

The investor has upped his share count to 172.2 million shares, or 7.6% of the total.
By Robert Holmes ,

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has once again increased his stake in

Motorola

(MOT)

, just days after the company's shareholders approved a say-on-pay proposal.

Icahn said in a filing to the

Securities and Exchange Commission

that he has upped his share count to 172.2 million shares, or 7.6%, from 6.4% previously. Icahn last lifted his holdings in March, and while Motorola shares received a significant boost then, they were trading down nearly 1% Wednesday.

The filing comes after the handset maker and Icahn agreed to put aside their differences and allow two of Icahn's four nominees to be named to Motorola's board. Motorola is currently working to split its operations into two separate publicly traded companies. On March 26, the company announced it would seek to splinter off its handset unit by 2009.

If Motorola were to find a buyer for its mobile-phone unit, the remainder of the company would consist of a cable set-top box operation, a wireless networking infrastructure business and a security and government services venture.

During Motorola's annual shareholder meeting Monday, stockholders expressed frustration and concern over the pace of the company's recovery and possible spinoff of the mobile-phone business. More notably, a shareholder proposal for an advisory vote on executive compensation received a majority 50.7% of the shareholder vote.

Motorola joins other companies such as

Verizon

(VZ) - Get Report

and

Aflac

(AFL) - Get Report

who have already seen investors approve say-on-pay shareholder proposals.

Motorola shareholders also voiced anger over the company stalling on the introduction of new handsets, while rivals

Nokia

(NOK) - Get Report

,

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

, and

Research In Motion

(RIMM)

have continued to gain market share.

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