Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Motorola Inc., the biggest U.S. maker of mobile phones, named private-equity executive Paul Liska chief financial officer amid efforts to shore up its cash and weigh options for its handset business.

Liska, an industrial partner at firms including MidOcean Partners LLP and Ripplewood Holdings LLC, was chairman of US Freightways and CFO of Sears, Roebuck & Co. Tom Meredith, the acting CFO since David Devonshire retired in March, will continue as a director, Motorola said today in a statement.

Motorola had its debt rating cut and has failed to prevent customers from switching to phones from Nokia Oyj and Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Greg Brown last month replaced Ed Zander and had been working with Meredith to lower the Schaumburg, Illinois-based company's expenses by $500 million.

Motorola has given up mobile-phone market share to all of its major rivals and said earlier this month that it may drop its money-losing handset unit. The business accounts for about half of revenue and lost $388 million in the fourth quarter.

Phone shipments plummeted 38 percent last quarter, bringing Motorola closer to losing its spot as the world's third-largest handset maker. Samsung Electronics Co. overtook Motorola as the second-biggest last year, and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd. is threatening Motorola's No. 3 spot.

In January, the company said profit fell 84 percent and forecast an unexpected loss. Phone sales will drop ``significantly'' in the next three months, Brown said on Jan. 23 in his first earnings call as chief executive.

The company also had its credit rating cut two levels by Standard & Poor's to BBB. Motorola had $2.75 billion in cash and near cash at the end of 2007, down from $3.21 billion in 2006.

Motorola, whose shares have declined 30 percent this year, fell 18 cents to $11.28 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 21, 2008 18:04 EST