God, why can't this happen at Novell? Sorry to go off topic but why can't this happen to Novell's Board. Boy, we tried so hard Paul. And, all for the exact, same, reasons you see here. S*it!!
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August 6, 1997 6:00 PM ET
The bottom line on Apple
By Sean Silverthorne, ZDNN
New board, new Microsoft Corp. alliance, new focus.
But at the end of the day, does all this add up to a new
Apple Computer Inc.?
First take: Yes. The Steve Jobs magic makeover plan
gives the company adult supervision, renewed
credibility with customers and investors and a call to
action it has lacked since that day in 1984 when Jobs
pulled the first Macintosh out of a bag at the computer's
christening.
Here's the score card:
New Board. Jobs swept out four existing board
members and brought in replacements -- all from the
computer industry.
When Big Blue was bleeding big red, it was Jerry York
who stanched the flow. As a new Apple board member,
York won't have a large sway over day-to-day affairs,
but no one reads a P&L statement any better. That's
why Wall Street loves York, and why institutional
investors may once again consider Apple for their
portfolios. If CFO Fred Anderson is smart -- and he is --
he'll put a cot in his office with York's name on it.
"As an investor, I'd feel a lot better now with these
people in charge. Management is so important in this
industry because technology changes so fast that one
false move could mean disaster," said Art Russell, an
analyst at Edward D. Jones & Co.
There's one other intriguing addition to the board -- and
it isn't Larry Ellison or Jobs. Intuit Inc.'s Bill Campbell is
a former Apple sales exec and CEO of Claris Corp. --
Apple's software subsidiary -- who has the company in
his DNA. He has a lot of support inside the company.
Campbell is a motivator. He's also a strong operations
guy. He should help tether the flights of fancy taken by
Jobs and Ellison.
The new board is very positive, "adding significantly
more strength at a critical time," said Louis
Mazzucchelli, an analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison &
Co. "[The board] has always had adult supervision, but
not knowledgeable adult supervision. They've always
had intelligent people, but they didn't have the guts to
make good, instinctive decisions for the company."
Microsoft alliance. The No. 1 question facing Apple
today isn't whether Rhapsody will ship on time or if
clone makers are eating the company out of house and
home. What corporate and education customers really
want to know is this: Should I buy from a company that
might not be here tomorrow?
Jobs answered that by trotting out old nemesis Bill
Gates, to a chorus of boos from the Mac faithful. The
$150 million that Microsoft gave Apple in exchange for
stock was nice, but the real gift came when Gates
pledged to continue to make Microsoft Office and other
applications for the Mac during the next five years, said
Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Research
International Inc., in San Jose, Calif.
If Apple lost Microsoft application support, customers
past, present and future would have sailed into Intel
Corp. waters. Mac loyalists may hate Microsoft, but the
company is the largest-selling maker of Mac software.
The companies also talked broadly of working more
closely together in the future. "What Apple and
Microsoft agree to do, it's a standard," Jobs said.
"We'll be working with them more."
New Focus. For a company that was losing money
and market share, Apple wasted a lot of effort trying to
develop new markets instead of exploiting its bread
and butter. No more, Jobs said. The company will
concentrate on what it does best: Making hardware
and software for the education and "creative content"
communities. The latter group includes publishers,
Web site designers and advertising professionals.
Both markets, said Jobs, are growing 20 percent a
year -- and Apple has a dominant position in each. That
kind of logic appeals, and is one reason Apple's stock
did back flips today.
Jobs also hit a home run when he pledged to put more
resources into operating system technologies. It's the
Mac operating system, after all, that is Apple's core
strength. But its updates of system software were too
far apart, and Microsoft made up a lot of ground.
By exciting investors today -- Apple's stock gained
some 30 percent in early trading -- Jobs' actions also
eliminated an immediate hostile threat. A source says
that Apple execs know of at least one investor group
that was waiting in the wings for Apple shares to fall
into the low teens to launch a bid for the company. That
won't happen now.
And with some longer term credibility, Apple's ability to
attract a top flight CEO becomes much more real.
But there are also new questions. While Jobs went out
of his way to assure the faithful that today's Macintosh
operating system will live on, he said nothing about
Rhapsody, the next generation Mac OS built on his own
Next Software Inc. software.
He also didn't address the clone controversy. Clone
makers such as Power Computing Corp. are charging
that Apple may not license future versions of the OS, or
may do so, but at inflated prices. And Apple is using its
licensing control to prevent some cloners from
introducing powerful new models which would compete
with Apple's product family. Apple can't win by
appearing to be afraid of competition.
The bottom line is that Jobs has rebooted the
company, and the smiling Mac is once again greeting
the Apple community. "What I see is the makings of a
very healthy company," Jobs said.
Now someone will have to combine all those makings
into a compelling story.
Larry Barrett contributed to this story.
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HERE'S ANOTHER SLANT FROM MONEY DAILY ---- DAMN!!! OUST THE BOD!!!!
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For an enhanced HTML version of the Money Daily,
visit moneydaily.com.
Thursday, August 7, 1997
Apple stock soars 35% on Microsoft's $150 million
investment
But what's really impressing industry-watchers is the
company's new board
by Michael Brush
Suddenly, it seems, Apple is back. A double-shot of
positive news Wednesday drove up Apple's stock price more
than 35% to close at more than $26.
The question now is whether Apple will be able to deliver a
strong enough turnaround plan to justify its snazzy new
stock price.
There are certainly many reasons to think it can. Two of
them were what cheered Apple investors Wednesday.
First, Apple revamped its board. The company ousted
directors associated with the its current problems, and
brought in four new ones with extensive experience in
turnarounds and the computer industry. The second piece of
bright news was the affirmation of an ongoing alliance
with Microsoft.
New board members include Larry Ellison founder and chief
executive of Oracle Corp.; Jerome York, former Chief
financial officer of IBM and Chrysler; Bill Campbell, chief
executive of Intuit (and former vice president of sales at
Apple), and of course, Steve Jobs, an Apple co-founder.
"You have to be impressed with this board," says Alan
Lowenstein, a technology analyst with the John Hancock
Global Technology Fund. "I think Jerry York is a great talent
to have in there because he has Chrysler and IBM
turnaround experience," says Roland "Nick" Whitridge, a
portfolio manager with the Babson Value Fund, the mutual
fund with the largest stake in Apple, according to
Morningstar.
"Maybe equally important is who has stepped off," notes
Stephen Cohen, the director of technology research at First
Albany Corp., referring to Mike Markkula. Markkula was an
original venture capitalist behind Apple, and has been one
of the powers behind the throne ever since. "Apple has lost
its way, and part of the blame has to be laid at Markkula's
feet," says Cohen. "So this is even more evidence that they
are going to do things differently."
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Regards,
Joe...<And who said here a CFO isn't important? Remember Jerry York at IBM? I do. I was there.... Tholenen? --- that's Novell's CFO, right? He was there through ALL of the fiascos, right? I guess he's got a lot of "friends on the street" too, no? NO!>
BRAIN DEAD [NOVL] BOD! |
