News of Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside leaving for Dropbox arrived earlier this morning. Given the original report came courtesy of The Wall Street Journal there wasn’t much room for doubt, but with that in mind, it is still good to see the confirmation direct from the source. Dennis Woodside recently posted a departure notice on the Motorola blog, calling this a difficult decision.
Woodside will be stepping down as Motorola CEO at the end of March, and will indeed be heading to Dropbox as COO. Along with mention of this not being an easy decision, Woodside also touched on how he feels Motorola is being left in great hands.
“This was not an easy decision to make, but I leave knowing that Motorola is in great hands – now and in the future.”
He has said Motorola will remain focused on their “current strategy and on creating great mobile devices that deliver the mobile Internet to millions more people around the world.” Naturally, the departure of Woodside will mean some other shifts in the executive lineup. To that point, it looks like the moves will include Jonathan Rosenberg who will be stepping in as COO as of April 1.
Rosenberg is noted as being a longtime Googler and SVP of Products from 2002 to 2011. Perhaps key here though, Woodside also touched on how Rosenberg “worked very closely with me to build the leadership team at Motorola and has been intimately involved in steering business and product decisions alongside with the current leadership team.”
Woodside also provided a bit of a look back. Referring to the Moto X and Moto G, he touched on how the company managed to build “two of the company’s best loved phones ever.” There was also mention of how these handsets “brought unprecedented quality and performance to a value-priced smartphone.”
That all being said, Woodside mentioned how this was a “reinvention the likes of which many 85-year-old brands could not have achieved.” He also made it clear that “it was astonishing to be a part of.” With the chapter coming to a close, we look forward to seeing what Woodside can do with Dropbox. Not to mention, what Lenovo can do with Motorola.
