The Wall Street Journal's online edition is reporting that billionaire financier Carl Icahn has rejected an olive branch from Motorola Inc. [MOT] that would have granted him two seats on the struggling company's board.

Icahn has been pushing a four-person slate: Frank Biondi, the former CEO of Viacom Inc.; William Hambrecht, the co-founder of the former investment bank Hambrecht & Quist; Lionel Kimerling, professor of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Keith Meister, CEO of Icahn Enterprises.

Motorola reportedly told Icahn that it would seat two of these nominees, as long as it wasn't Meister. Icahn didn't bite, telling the WSJ that Meister's rejection was "intolerable and reprehensible."

The news follows an Icahn letter made public this morning, criticizing Motorola's management and urging shareholders to support his slate. -- Olaf de Senerpont Domis

See March 24 story from The Wall Street Journal Online (subscription required)
See March 24 post from Tech Confidential