ICAHN MAKES MOTOROLA HIS NEWEST TARGET

Activist investor Carl Icahn has found himself another corporate target, cellphone maker Motorola, and he’s again demanding a seat at the table – the board table.

Icahn, the Queens-raised billionaire who for four decades has been loudly prodding companies such as Time Warner, Blockbuster and ImClone Systems to boost their often-slumping share prices, disclosed his intentions in a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the filing, Icahn holds a 1.4 percent stake, or about 33.5 million shares, in the Schaumberg, Ill.-based manufacturer of cellphones including the Razr and Q.

News of his stake sent Motorola shares surging 6.9 percent, or $1.27, to $19.58, giving him a paper profit of about $42.5 million.

In many ways, Motorola is a classic Icahn target, with its globally recognized brand, a stock that has dropped 19 percent in the past year and three straight quarters of declining earnings.

The company has faced particularly strong headwinds as the ultra-slim, metal-encased Razr has fallen out of favor with consumers after a strong launch two years ago. Motorola has responded by slashing the price of the phone, which has only hurt margins.

Motorola also has faced stiff competition from Finnish rival Nokia and South Korea’s Samsung.

In response, Motorola’s chief executive, Brooklyn-born Ed Zander, has moved to cut 3,500 jobs and has introduced higher-margin – and more expensive – phones with camera and video-recording capability.