Last week's sudden exit of Motorola's No. 2 executive Edward Breen inflicted another bit of pain on CEO Christopher Galvin, who continued trying to reassure Wall Street that the company's recovery is on track.
Galvin, who had sold 240,000 shares from a 10-year-old options grant that was set to expire in November, said he called his attorney to stop any further sales immediately after Breen told him he was leaving July 25.
Motorola (MOT), after a massive two-year restructuring, has cut its break-even point by 25 percent and anticipates earnings of 14 cents per share, before special charges, on sales of $7.5 billion in the fourth quarter.
Breen's replacement, Michael Zafirovsky, said that sales growth of 7 percent to $29 billion next year and 45-cents per share earnings are "achievable."
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MS and AT&T deal: Microsoft and AT&T Wireless plans to begin offering new wireless services to business customers, sources said.
The deal means that within the past 18 months, Microsoft (MSFT) has forged partnerships with at least five major wireless carriers in the United States to carry a cell phone or wireless device that runs a Microsoft operating software.
The deal calls for both companies to develop software and services that will let business users access their corporate e-mail, calendars, data and other business applications, anonymous sources said.
AT&T Wireless will also offer a device running Microsoft's new PocketPC Phone Edition software, which combines computing functions with phone capabilities in a handheld device, sources said.
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AOL confirms investigation: The Justice Department has begun investigating accounting practices at AOL Time Warner (AOL), the company verified. The company is already under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company did not specify which practices were being looked at, but the SEC probe is focusing on several transactions that led to higher revenues at the AOL side of the company.
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3G spectrum licenses: The award of the 3G spectrum today is likely to leave most mobile phone users unmoved, despite months of hype, analysts say.
Consumers' mild interest in the next generation of mobile services is expected to wane even further, reducing expectations that such services will be popular and profitable any time soon, they said.
The bidders are Telekom Malaysia, Technology Resources Industries, Celcom, Maxis Communications, UMT, Time DotCom and little-known E-Touch.
The three winners will have the right for 15 years to use the spectrum highway that connects mobile phones to the Internet.
AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
