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To: J Bertrand who wrote (9732)	2/27/1998 12:26:00 AM
From: Dave Yenne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14631

Jeff, This off the cuff slam analysis is not your normal style. Here's some details on the Sybase restructuring. You'll notice that there is a clear delineation between Mr. Kertzman's and Mr. Chen's areas of responsibility. If you look at Sybase's Q3 10-Q you'll see that Mr. Chen when hired was targeted to become the sole CEO and Mr. Kertzman will remain as Chairman. This is just a transitional arrangement. You'll also notice that Sybase's stock price was up in after hours trading. You may not like the change, but wall street seems to. Dave.. By Andrea Orr Reuters LOS ANGELES (Feb. 26) - Database software company Sybase Inc. Thursday announced a shake-up of its top management and said it would take a $70 million charge in the first quarter to cover layoffs and other restructuring moves. Under the new structure, President John Chen will share the chief executive title with Chairman and CEO Mitchell Kertzman in a newly formed ''office of the chief executive.'' The Emeryville, Calif.-based company, which on Monday announced plans to cut as many as 600 jobs, or 10 percent of its worldwide work force, said the restructuring was expected to cut costs by $100 million this year. In an interview Thursday, Kertzman said the management changes formalize a structure that has been unofficially in place since Chen joined the company last July. ''This has always been the plan,'' he said. ''It recognizes that John has been leading a lot of strategy since he joined the company.'' Although both men will share the office of Chief Executive, the changes suggest Chen will play a bigger role running the company. Kertzman described his new role as ''what I do best and enjoy most -- projecting the company into the external communities of customers, shareholders, press and partners.'' ''John (Chen) will be doing all the management responsibilities of CEO,'' Kertzman added. Also under the new structure, Chief Financial Officer Jack Acosta will report to Chen rather than Kertzman. Chen told Reuters he planned to focus on more lucrative segments of the database software industry, with new market initiatives in data warehousing, mobile computing and web computing. He also said he planned to expand sales coverage in these areas and consolidate ''other things deemed not as strategic.'' The new restructuring is the latest in a series of attempts by Sybase to turn around its operations, and is the second time in three years that the company has had to lay off employees. Sybase, once the second-biggest publisher of database software, which stores huge libraries of business information, enjoyed annual revenue growth spurts of at least 50 percent in the mid-1990s. But its results have suffered over the last 18 months, from a failure to attract new customers and industrywide cost-cutting in response to competition from Microsoft Corp. Sybase also said Thursday that it will buy back as much as $25 million worth of its outstanding common stock, as a vote of confidence in its future outlook. Sybase stock gained 37.5 cents to $11 in after-hours trading. REUTERS Reut18:26 02-26-98 This is also a another article which explains the transition and business focus: news.com