Kemble, The Best CEOs, from the May Issue of Worth. Mikey is #10. :)Leigh
worth.com
Our second annual selection of the top 50 CEOs-the business leaders who are making their companies great, their shareholders rich, and the world a better place.
10
Michael Dell
Dell Computer
3-year return: 1,030%
Age: 35
CEO since: 1984
A slowdown in Dell Computer's sales growth knocks Michael Dell from the top spot on our list. The computer company's momentum began to ebb in February 1999, when it reported that revenue growth slipped to 38 percent in the quarter ended in January, from 51 percent in the previous quarter. Dell also publicly suggested that the company would not meet analysts' expectations for the first quarter because of slower-than-expected sales and delayed deliveries from suppliers. INTERNET STRATEGY: "The Internet will become as fundamental to your business as electricity," Dell likes to say. Online orders now make up about 50 percent of sales (recently about $40 million a day). In February, the company started a division to sell servers and disk storage equipment to Internet service providers and hosts. This market, now at $2 billion, is expected to grow eightfold over the next three years. And the Internet is more than just a sales channel. "Order status calls, which can cost up to $13 each, can be handled over the Internet for essentially no cost at all," Dell recently said. WHAT'S NEXT: Analysts expect Dell to expand its worldwide market share from 10.8 percent last year to 18.7 percent by 2002. MANAGEMENT STYLE: Sweats the details, then sweats them some more. Adopts the best practices of other companies. Unafraid to look outside the company to fill skills gaps. Recent hires include Goran Malm from GE as president of Dell Asia-Pacific and James T. Vanderslice, a 33-year IBM veteran, as vice-chairman. BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY: The customer drives everything the company does. BIGGEST CHALLENGES: Manage investors' growth expectations; generate new sales as users make the transition to Windows 2000 and the Linux operating system (the free versi on of Unix). FINANCIAL REWARD: His 14.3 percent stake in the company is worth some $20.5 billion.
--C.P. |
