Scott, in particular (and all others). Here is a little personal info
from inside Novell.
This is an internal memo from Joe Marengi to the Novell employees. I thought it would be fair to give some airtime to what the Novell employees are hearing.
One point to note is their 97' incentives are tied to performance (IMO that's good), and the other point to note is the contradiction of the reference by Joe Marengi to the upbeat Morgan Stanley report and the recent delisting (IMO confusing?). The 1996 point of note is the cancellation of all bonuses (IMO excellent, if he means ALL bonuses including management to-the-top.. which I think he does).
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Eric, Elmo, Dwight, Paul, Salah, "Anyone" -- do any of you have or have you seen the "upbeat report" from Morgan Stanley that Marengi refers to? And if so, could you post it.
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Anyway here is the internal memo:
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>>> Joe Marengi 11/26/96 02:07pm >>>
Personal Message from Joe Marengi
Novell today reported its fiscal 1996 fourth-quarter earnings. I'd like
to expand on the information you'll read in the press release, and share
my perspective on our progress.
Our results for the fourth quarter were respectable, and they
demonstrate our ability to execute. Our power brands experienced
significant growth, with IntranetWare/NetWare up 38 percent from the
third fiscal quarter, ManageWise up 18 percent, and GroupWise up 24
percent. We need to stay this course, and continue to increase the flow
of revenue every quarter.
In aggregate, however, 1996 was a tough year, and we did not meet our
operating profit target. Since year-end bonuses are based on company
performance, we unfortunately cannot award a year-end bonus for fiscal
year 1996. I realize this is a disappointment to many of you.
That in no way diminishes our collective drumbeat of progress. Recent
evidence of that progress included superb, worldwide launches of both
GroupWise 5 and IntranetWare; receiving PC World's MVP award for
GroupWise; the announcement of our alliance with Sun, emphasizing their
endorsement of NDS; and an upbeat financial analyst report from Morgan
Stanley entitled "Novell: Don't Count Them Out Yet." Less tangible
evidence of our turnaround is the growing enthusiasm within. Without
exception, the people I meet around Novell want to win. And, of course,
winning is our only option.
In the coming weeks, we'll announce a number of initiatives with strong
industry partners. We'll be delivering new products more frequently, and
we'll engage customers in early releases. There's a lot of excitement in
store.
We're also changing the fiscal year 1997 bonus plan, to tie your stake
in our results to meeting our near-term targets. Employee bonuses will
be paid quarterly, as we achieve our revenue and operating profit goals.
You'll receive details about Novell's 1997 bonus plan in the coming
weeks. In addition, all eligible employees will have salary increases in
the January time frame. As a show of how serious we are about turning
this company around, the executive committee will receive no wage
increases for the coming year.
I'm encouraged by our accomplishments so far, and I look forward to even
better results in the first quarter of 1997. Your individual efforts,
combined with our commitment to become One Novell, will determine the
pace and volume of our progress, for all the industry to hear.
Regards,
Joe
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Comments? Anyone?
Joe... |
