The End of an Era at Motorola
I haven't read the article yet, because it's in the Wall Street Journal and I don't have a subscription, but the headline quoted on MacSurfer says it all:
Motorola's Galvin to step down as Chairman and CEO.
[update: Linkage courtesy of MacMinute. It appears that the catalyst was a "difference of opinion" between Galvin and the governing board over how much progress Mot had made. The COO is the leading contender to replace him.]
Motorola has been a family-owned company from day one. Chris Galvin's retirement means that for the first time in its history it won't be run by the Galvin family. And Chris has nobody but himself to blame for that.
I know there's been immense shareholder pressure for him to either turn the company around or get out of the way. If he's getting out of the way, it probably means the shareholders aren't happy (no, really!) and they're calling for new leadership.
This is a sobering moment in the company's history. It'll be interesting to see who takes the place of the last Galvin, and to see how well he does at the helm.
Motorola's Galvin to step down as Chairman and CEO.
[update: Linkage courtesy of MacMinute. It appears that the catalyst was a "difference of opinion" between Galvin and the governing board over how much progress Mot had made. The COO is the leading contender to replace him.]
Motorola has been a family-owned company from day one. Chris Galvin's retirement means that for the first time in its history it won't be run by the Galvin family. And Chris has nobody but himself to blame for that.
I know there's been immense shareholder pressure for him to either turn the company around or get out of the way. If he's getting out of the way, it probably means the shareholders aren't happy (no, really!) and they're calling for new leadership.
This is a sobering moment in the company's history. It'll be interesting to see who takes the place of the last Galvin, and to see how well he does at the helm.
Comments
But I am not holding my breath
Apple will only look at it as the second choice at least in the next 5 years
Screed
Some of the stats in the last 5 years are pretty sobering:
Total shareholder return: -41.6%
Peer return: -34.1%
S&P 500 Index return: -7.8%
6.7 billion in losses
Wow.
NYTimes article contributed by 1337_5L4Xx0R elsethread confirms my suspicions.
I've followed their turnaround strategy, and some of it makes sense (curing "Performa syndrome" in their product lines, for example), and some of it falls under what Fred Anderson calls "mortgaging the future" (massive layoffs and slash-and-burn budget cutting). The latter is always dangerous at a technology company that has to keep up with design and R&D (heck, it's dangerous anywhere).
For me, the worst omen is actually the partnership with Microsoft. I work in an old DEC shop, and we saw what happened when they tried turning around by partnering with MS (and, for the record, HPaq is not a suitable replacement - and gee, look, they're in bed with MS as well!). MS is just too ruthlessly self-interested, too paranoid and too damn powerful to be a reliable partner, especially if you're on the ropes.
It'll be interesting to see how it pans out. I note that Mot's share of the cell phone market ticked up from 13% to 17% this year, and Crolles has the potential to make Mot SPS competitive again, so there are definitely some bright spots among the clouds. But there are also a lot of clouds.