Ginni Rometty to Step Down as C.E.O. of IBM

In August 2019, IBM bought Red Hat, the largest distributor of the popular open-source operating system Linux, for $34 billion. At the time, many analysts said that the deal meant that Ms. Rometty would probably stay on until the end of this year. But her two predecessors, Samuel J. Palmisano and Louis V. Gerstner Jr., both retired at 60.

The acquisition of Red Hat seems to be going well, analysts said. James Whitehurst, the chief executive of Red Hat, was named the president of IBM on Thursday.

Last week, IBM reported a slight increase in revenue. “This positions us for sustained revenue growth in 2020,” Ms. Rometty said at the time.

Other than Red Hat, IBM acquired 65 companies under Ms. Rometty, mostly small ones. And she sold off companies that accounted for $9 billion in yearly revenue, including semiconductor manufacturing and several lower-profit services and software businesses.

“It’s been her eight-year project to reposition the company,” said Frank Gens, chief analyst of IDC, a technology research firm. “And after the positive report last quarter, she’s declared victory and retired.”

At the time the announcement was made, Ms. Rometty was addressing IBM’s top 300 managers at an annual company leadership conference in downtown Manhattan. She told the assembled executives about the change and shared the stage with Mr. Krishna and Mr. Whitehurst. The three received a lengthy standing ovation, said an IBM manager who attended but was not authorized to speak about the private event.

IBM said the transition was the culmination of a lengthy succession process that began more than a year ago, with Ms. Rometty collaborating closely with the rest of the IBM board.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/30/technology/ginni-rometty-ibm-ceo.html?emc=rss&partner=rss