Two more top execs bid farewell to EDS

-- (trend@watcher.cwt), April 02, 1999

Answers

More EDS Execs Depart

-- (trend@watcher.cwt), April 02, 1999.

Ok I'll ask, "What does this have to do with Y2K?"

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), April 02, 1999.

Maria,

Believe that in context the reference would be to rats jumping (sinking) ship. However in the fun fun world of corporate politics, competition for talent, personal burnout, sufficient bonuses to retire, and various assundry other motivation - who knows.... Unless they come out actually announce that their previous employer is toast, then you either accept the news analysis read in other motivations and interpret as you see fit.

jh

-- john hebert (jt_hebert@hotmail.com), April 02, 1999.

EDS Y2K about-face raises Win 95 doubts

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), April 02, 1999.

Thanks for your comments John. Yeah, in the corporate world big guys come and go for dozens of reasons. But since EDS is a big (more than 110,000 employees), I got to believe that it will take more than Y2K to bring down that ship. Also they are an IT organization and know the importance of fixing the Y2K "bug".

Tim, your article says that they are upgrading with Windows 98. Sounds like a good move to me instead of patching fixes to Win95. But if you think it promotes the idea that they are a sinking ship, it doesn't even come close.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), April 02, 1999.

Note the article says ...

More EDS Execs Depart

Gary Rudin, senior VP and CIO at EDS, has resigned for personal reasons. The 29-year veteran of EDS has served as CIO for one year. ...

A CIO there for 29 years, and in an IT information Y2K vortex spot, less than one year. What does he know? Corporate Executives are always held personally accountable. (And CIO's in IT organizations are always the public point person for Y2K communications).

EDS has lots of IT contracts too.

I find this an interesting puzzle piece. Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 02, 1999.

BTW, a lot of small businesss operate on Windows 95. And about 50% of small business owners (so far) dont plan a Y2K fix according to the SBA.

Wonder what the Y2K impact will be on various on supply-chains?

Its all a bit of a mess, isnt it?

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 02, 1999.

Diane wrote, "A CIO there for 29 years, and in an IT information Y2K vortex spot, less than one year. What does he know? Corporate Executives are always held personally accountable. (And CIO's in IT organizations are always the public point person for Y2K communications). " What the hell is a Y2K vortex spot? Do you know what EDS does? Do you know what contracts EDS has? Do you know anything about EDS? The most important "supply" for EDS is people, employees, consultants.

CIO's are NOT always the public point person. My CIO isn't.

The only valid statement you have is that execs are accountable. Absolutely, they are accountable for lots of things. But to think that these (2) guys are leaving because of Y2K without any other data is absolutely ludicrous. Two out of an organization as big as EDS is not even worthy of mention; it's a part of attrition.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), April 02, 1999.

"Also they are an IT organization and know the importance of fixing the Y2K 'bug'." Nope, that is what is so comical, the very profession that put in the "bug" (more correctly, a built-in design flaw) is as much caught off guard as anyone else. And recognizing the importance of fixing Y2K, and actually being able to do it, are two different things (though some folks, like Peter de Jager, seem not to be able to understand this). And its way too late now!!!!

Y2K CANNOT BE FIXED!

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), April 02, 1999.

These people are resigning to keep from being fired. EDS hired a new man: Dick Brown (aka Dick Head to those who know him) who is getting rid of lots of management positions.

*******For Tattletale Purposes Only***********

EDS CEO Expected to Fire Top Executives, Analysts Say Plano, Texas, March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Electronic Data Systems Corp., the second-biggest U.S. computer services firm, is expected to fire top executives under a cost-cutting plan by Chief Executive Richard Brown, analysts and investors said. ``There's going to be some major actions imminently, at least in the management ranks,'' said Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Stephen McClellan, who rates EDS ``near-term accumulate.''

Senior Vice President Gary Rudin and John Harris, vice president for corporate marketing and strategy, both 50, resigned today, EDS spokeswoman Diane Coffman said. She declined to comment on whether others will leave. McClellan and other analysts wouldn't speculate on which top managers may depart.

Brown, who became chief executive in January after a 29- month tenure as CEO of Cable & Wireless Plc, replaced 70 of the British telecommunications company's 100 executives while he was there, McClellan said.

When EDS hired Brown, board member and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker III described him as a ``change agent.'' The new CEO was expected to sell business units and eliminate jobs to reverse two years of lackluster financial performance, during which time EDS struggled against rivals International Business Machines Corp. and Computer Sciences Corp. ``Some jobs are being lost,'' though the company won't know until May how many employees will be fired, Coffman said. Some workers are being given 60 days to find other positions in the company, she said.

Rudin, who led EDS's Year 2000 services unit and oversaw its last reorganization effort will be replaced by Dan Leffel, 49. Joe Eazor, 36, will replace Harris as director of corporate marketing. `Twin Objective'

The restructuring is part of Brown's ``twin objective'' of boosting profits and cutting costs, Coffman said. ``We're going to see an attack on the cost side of the business,'' said Nicholas Moore, senior technology analyst for Jurika & Voyles, which owned about 2.62 million EDS shares as of Dec. 31. ``There will be sacrifices and there will be attrition as well.''

The management changes and cost cuts likely will result in a charge against first-quarter earnings, analysts said. EDS is scheduled to release earnings April 29, the same day that Brown and other managers are slated to meet with Wall Street analysts to discuss a restructuring plan.

EDS fell 9/16 to 48 11/16. The stock has dropped 3 percent this year, compared with a 28 percent rise in the Standard & Poor's computer software index.

Departures

Several EDS executives have left in the last year. Les Alberthal stepped down as chairman and CEO in August, followed by Vice Chairman Gary Fernandes at the end of December. Robert Mintz, who joined EDS as executive vice president for human resources less than a year ago, left this month.

Since taking office, Brown has eliminated executive parking spaces and ordered senior management to move their offices from the eighth- floor executive suite to the same floors as the employees that they supervise.

He took over a company that has struggled since being spun off from General Motors Corp. in June 1996.

Rivals such as IBM, Computer Sciences and others have lured away contracts to run other companies' computer systems. At the same time, EDS has been forced to cut prices on its GM business to keep it. That reduced profitability on the GM contracts, which accounted for almost 25 percent of its $16.89 billion in sales last year.

Brown plans to boost profit, partly by building computer systems for customers in the electronic commerce business, analysts said.

Some Executives Stay

While some managers may lose their jobs, the company also has taken steps to retain certain top executives. After Alberthal's departure, the company gave several officials whom it won't identify incentives that will pay them a lump sum if they stay through 2001.

Eligible executives can receive up to twice the amount of their annual salary or an amount equal to three years' bonuses, whichever is greater, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ``The purpose of that was to provide continuity of management'' following Alberthal's departure, Coffman said.

At the same time, the company also agreed to pay Brown a base salary of $1.5 million a year and an annual bonus of $1.5 million to $3 million through 2003, the filing said.

He also received a $4.45 million signing bonus and options to buy 1 million shares of the company's stock, the first 200,000 of which have an exercise price of 41 1/2 a share, according to the filing.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/analytics/bquote.cgi?story_num=42768277&vie w=story&version=newfront.cfg

-- Some one who knows (WAY@too.much), April 02, 1999.

Maria,

I know it would surprise you, but Ive actually been to the EDS offices down near Long Beach, CA. And yes, Im aware of what they do. I made a presentation to management when I was in the CD-ROM industry, and had to learn about what they do.

Are you aware? No. As usual, clueless. Engaging in any cyber conversation with you has always proven a waste of energy, IMHO. Like it or lump it, my dear. (Not in the greatest of moods today either, and have little patience with your typical inaneness. Clearly I need a time out, when I feel like calling you what you are. Ill refrain ... this time).

Yes, there is a substantial management shake-up at EDS.

ANY, repeat, any executive CIO shuffling, is an interesting data point to me. It may, or may NOT, be Y2K related.

In an IT organization, its especially interesting, this year.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), April 02, 1999.

Sorry you feel that engaging in any cyber conversation with me has always proven a waste of energy. Well, actually I'm not sorry. So don't waste your energy, my dear. Anyway I'm glad that you admit that this may NOT be Y2K related.

BTW the feeling is mutual and I won't get into name calling.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), April 02, 1999.

-- go go go (go@go.go), April 02, 1999.

Maria:

take care, as you are trying to joust with someone who has been trained by the top "open information" analysts in the world, and I don't mean US CIA. Against the folks at Sony, the CIA would become a footstool squatter, looking up in adoration.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (reinzoo@en.com), April 02, 1999.

Even if Diane is past a certain age, I would still pay top $ to see she and Maria in a good mudwrestling bout!!!

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), April 02, 1999.

Maria,

Going to Windows 98 may or may not be a good idea. If you know anyone with your configuration, suggest checking on their experience.

I'm not particularly impressed with it. It came preinstalled with the multimedia machine I have. The major application I planned to run was voice dictation and it came with Smart Suite which has VIA Voice integrated. Well I'm confronted with chronic system crashes - at first I thought it was smart suite. But then I found that doing a weekly disk reorg tends to slow the rate of problems. This scares me because I don't use the machine that intensively. I suspect that the memory and/or disk management for 98 has significant quirks.

Needless to say I am greatly disallusioned - maybe I got too close to the bleeding edge.

Good Luck jh

-- john hebert (jt_hebert@hotmail.com), April 02, 1999.

Thanks John on a different point of view. I was making the comment from the standpoint that to upgrade to the newer version would be easier (given the size of the corporation) than to patch fixes which may take more time in execution and problem resolution. You're right it all depends on the current configuration of the systems.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), April 02, 1999.

Your highness, I'm game. Do you think mud wrestling will continue into the new year?

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), April 02, 1999.

EDS + Y2K

It looks like the upcoming "GIANT SUCKIING SOUND" is going to be in ol' Ross Perot's wallet. If outright bankruptcy by EDS doesn't take him down with his company, then the Y2K lawsuits will.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), April 03, 1999.

Ross Perot has not owned EDS for a LONG, LONG time!

-- Someone who knows (WAY@too.much), April 03, 1999.