As one of an army of former Symantec employees who have left to go elsewhere, I think it is at least interesting that another top-level member of the team has left the company. One of the common criticisms of SYMC is that the mngmnt. team is not deep and now, with the loss of John, who I know quite well, I think it has become even more shallow. In addition, I hear the reporting structure of WW sales has been shaken up and that the top mgrs. are reporting directly to Gordon which, if true, I think is braindead. It is a shame to see this company, which at one time had very good prospects, I think, seem to now be stumbling around the software landscape. Revenue of $445M in FY '96 is only slightly better than the $403M reported in FY '94 -- that's two years with almost no growth. In the software industry, that is death. Granted, the Java stuff seems hot right now, but that is one of the few bright prospects that exists currently.
Anyway, as an employee I obvoiusly voted with my feet and I have to admit that I'm surprised more shareholders aren't doing the same thing. I don't say any of this out of spite, more out of bewilderment at what has or hasn't transpired there.
I hope the re-org. of the company yields better results in the future than what we've seen in the past. I know there are a lot of employees whose options are under water and they are hungry for some upside. |
