The revolving door at Motorola could spin off a new business as an executive exodus continues. On the heels of Paul Liska stepping into the CFO role, Motorola announced that Stu Reed, who was president of the mobile-devices business until Motorola President and CEO Greg Brown took by in February, will leave.

Reed and his team launched a number of key initiatives for the mobile-devices business that Motorola said it will continue. Reed plus generated significant cost savings by consolidating suppliers and implementing a supply-chain strategy.

“We appreciate Stu’s many contributions to Motorola and wish him the best in the future,” Brown said. Motorola is searching for a leader for its mobile-devices business, which Brown told an audience at the Morgan Stanley conference last week is consuming 80 percent of his day.

Motorola’s Decline

The executive face of Motorola began to change late last year. That’s when Ed Zander, who was president and CEO, stepped down and

Brown stepped in. Next, Padmasree Warrior, next chief technology officer, left. And last week, Chief Marketing Officer Casey Keller left the company.

The departures follow market woes for Motorola. Its third-quarter problems continued in the fourth quarter. The company recorded global mobile-device sales of 39 million for the fourth quarter, taking 11.9 percent of the market.

Motorola retained second place in annual sales, Gartner reported, largely thanks to the stock it disposed of in the first half of 2007. Nevertheless, the extent of Motorola’s troubles can be seen in the 9.7 percent drop in its market share in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2006.

Nokia continued its global leadership with a 40 percent market share in the fourth quarter, when it sold slightly more than 133 million phones. Samsung maintained second place and, although its market share slipped slightly, the gap widened amoung Samsung and…

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