Motorola's Brown to get $8.3 million in stock if company splits

Motorola Inc., the mobile-phone maker planning to split into two companies next year, more than doubled the value of stock options co-Chief Executive Officer Greg Brown would receive afterward.

Brown will get $8.3 million in stock if the company splits next year, compared with $3.3 million in his previous contract, the Schaumburg-based company said today in a regulatory filing. Motorola expects to separate in the first quarter of 2011, and Brown may end his contract if the split doesn't happen by Sept. 1 of that year, the company said.

Motorola, struggling to revive sales growth, plans to combine its handset and set-top-box unit into one business, and separate its network division, which Brown will head, into another. Brown's counterpart, Sanjay Jha, will receive equity totaling as much as 3 percent of his new company if the plan is successful and $38 million if the split doesn't occur by June 30, 2011.

This month, the company failed to get a majority of shareholders to support its compensation policies, signaling investors think executives are paid too much. Motorola's pay practices have been criticized by billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, who has a 7 percent stake.

Motorola fell 7 cents to $6.85 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have dropped 12 percent this year.