Motorola’s No. 2 Executive to Resign

Motorola Inc. said its No. 2 officer, who had been passed over for the chief executive post, would resign at the end of January to seek a top spot with another company.

Mike Zafirovski, 51, Motorola’s president and chief operating officer, was credited with turning around its mainstay handset business after joining the company in June 2000 to head its personal communications division.

But he was passed over for the CEO post in favor of Edward Zander, a former Sun Microsystems Inc. executive who took over at the telecommunications equipment maker in December 2003.

Motorola said that it would not fill the COO post and that Zander would assume Zafirovski’s duties. Motorola’s stock slipped 17 cents to $16.47 on the NYSE.