Now Hear This!

Sanjay Jha has left Qualcomm to become Motorola’s co-CEO and CEO of its mobile devices business – a move that will not only benefit Motorola, but also Qualcomm.

Short term, expect the reaction toward Qualcomm to be negative. Filling two seats, Jha had been Qualcomm’s COO since 2006 and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT) since 2003. Jha, a 14-year company veteran, is a very public figure for the company and investors may not be familiar with his predecessors at the wireless chipmaker: Len Lauer, who becomes COO, and Steve Mollenkopf, QCT’s new president.

But dig a bit into Lauer’s 30-year industry background – one that includes 14 years at Qualcomm where he has overseen Qualcomm Internet Services, Qualcomm Enterprise Services, Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, Qualcomm Government Technologies, and the company's mobile TV subsidiary, MediaFLO USA and MediaFLO Technologies – and it’s clear that Qualcomm has named a worthy exec for its COO slot.

Same goes for Mollenkopf, who began his career at Qualcomm in 1994 as an engineer and was a leading contributor to the Globalstar project before joining the QCT team in 1999. Within the Qualcomm chipset group, the company credits Mollenkopf with leading the development of its UMTS family of air interface technologies, including GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, and HSUPA.
 
Jha’s move seems to not only be a planned one, but to also have Qualcomm’s blessing. In a statement today,   Qualcomm said Jha (pictured, left) was “instrumental in growing QCT” and acknowledged his new position at Moto. While thanking an exiting executive for his time at a company isn’t uncommon in press statements on management changes, it is uncommon to focus on their contributions in such statements and it is highly uncommon to disclose their new positions. 

And, surely, Qualcomm does approve of Jha’s move. Yes, they lose a key executive, but odds are this will give Qualcomm an even stronger relationship with Moto as Jha now heads the company’s mobile devices business.

Meanwhile, this is a negative for Texas Instruments, which many analysts had previously said was well positioned at Motorola in low-end devices and 3G.

Jha’s new position should also speed the spin off of Moto’s mobile devices business. Jha has strength in silicon and software, two areas Moto is challenged in, and could breathe new life into the failing division.

The co-CEO position will further allow Greg Brown, who took Motorola’s reins after Ed Zander left in January, to focus on Moto’s broadband mobility solutions business. That unit consists of Motorola’s home and networks mobility and enterprise mobility solutions businesses.

What are your thoughts on Jha’s move to Moto? Is it good for both parties? Will this hurry Moto’s split into two independent companies? Chime in with your comments below.

--Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News