Motorola’s CEO resigns

Ed Zander is out as Motorola Inc.’s chief executive after four years during which he led the cellphone maker’s Razr-led resurgence but ultimately took the blame for strategic gaffes and product whiffs that led to the company’s decline.

Motorola’s announcement Friday that Zander was resigning and that President and Chief Operating Officer Greg Brown would succeed him Jan. 1 produced a muted reaction on Wall Street. Industry experts voiced skepticism that the change would spark a turnaround unless it was accompanied by a new wave of top-selling phones and other mobile devices.

Zander’s departure will end a wild ride for Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola under the former Sun Microsystems Inc. president, who was praised for leading the slumping company’s resurgence in 2004 and 2005 and castigated for overseeing its slide since the second half of 2006.

Zander, who will stay on as chairman until the annual shareholders meeting in May, said the decision to go was his alone.

Motorola shares rose 32 cents, or 2%, to $15.97.