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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GO*QCOM who wrote (126036)	12/16/2002 10:11:42 AM
From: limtex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

GQ - Naz doing fine but Q very very reluctant. Doesn't believe it and being dragged along till the first sign of a peak. Doldrum period. The issue is can it see low $30s again? Best, L

To: GO*QCOM who wrote (126036)	12/18/2002 7:14:58 AM
From: Jeff Vayda	Respond to of 152472

- Chris Gent says he plans to step down as chief executive of Europe's biggest mobile phone company Vodafone next July. LONDON, England (CNN) - Wednesday's announcement by the 54-year-old Englishman, who turned the UK mobile phone company into -- at one stage -- the world's biggest, comes as a surprise. Gent will be replaced by Arun Sarin, 48, the chief executive of Accel-KKR Telecom based in San Francisco. The U.S. citizen is also the non-executive director of Vodafone, Charles Schwab and Cisco Systems and Gap. "This appointment is part of a carefully orchestrated succession plan which I have put in place at Vodafone,'' said Chairman Lord MacLaurin, adding that Gent had already expressed his wish to retire from the top job late next year. The company's stock fell more than 2 percent after the shock announcement. "He [Gent] is head of one of the largest companies in the world, he's got some credibility and Vodafone is delivering good results so why would you resign when things are going well?" Damien Maltarp, telecoms analyst of Bank of America, told Reuters. "My concern is, does he know something we don't?'' Gent masterminded the audacious $178 billion acquisition of Mannesmann but was criticised for the £10 million bonus he received for winning the hostile battle to control the German mobile phone giant. (Full story) He took the helm of Vodafone in January 1997 and was paid £2.42 million even though the company racked up Britain's biggest loss of £16.2 billion in fiscal 2002. (Full story) Gent has also bought stakes across the globe, including companies in Japan, Mexico and the United States. Gent's acquisition spree has created a company with more than 100 million customers in 28 countries and is now worth £75 billion. Sarin, who will be paid £1.1 million a year plus incentives, was once the chief operating officer of AirTouch Communications of the United States -- another company Gent swallowed. Vodafone's stock, which has fallen by about two thirds since a peak in 2000 when it was valued at more than £200 billion, fell 2 percent to 110.75 pence in early London trading on Wednesday. It was valued at £7.5 billion ($12 billion) when Gent took over the helm and is now worth £75 billion. Andrew Moffat, telecom analyst at ABN Amro, told CNN that Gent had created "unparalleled" company in the telecom industry but had been caught out by the current worries of debt problems, although Vodafone has managed its debt better than its rivals. "Gent was very good at M&A [mergers and acquisitions] but the new man is a capable manager and probably the best wireless candidate around. He [Sarin] is incredibly well liked by U.S. investors." Sarin takes the helm of a company which faces "some severe risks in acquiring customers and will anyone buy 3G [third-generation] services?" Moffat said. "Vodafone isn't out of the dock yet."