On Friday, just a day after new Motorola CEO Greg Brown announced that the company is considering a spin-off of its handset business, Motorola employees received an internal memo stating that Brown is taking direct control of the unit, Reuters reports.

Brown's move, which wrests control from Stu Reed, who took over the ailing mobile unit this past summer, is meant to help "speed up the unit's recovery," the report says.

A Motorola spokeswoman told Reuters that Reed will remain at the company, working closely with Brown.