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McNealy Hands Guard to Schwartz
Techtree News Staff, Apr 25, 2006 1430 hrs ISTScott G McNealy (51), chief executive and founder of Sun Microsystems, as of yesterday handed-over the reins to protege, Jonathan Schwartz.
Giving voice to rumors that have been doing-the-rounds, Scott G McNealy (51), chief executive and founder of Sun Microsystems, as of yesterday handed-over the reins to protege and company president, Jonathan Schwartz. McNealy who founded Sun in 1982 along with three other partners, and who turned it around into a force to contend with, will remain chairman of the company.
Jonathan Schwartz (40), ex-software entrepreneur, joined Sun in 1996 when it took-over his company, Lighthouse Design. The man has since earned the reputation of being "innovative strategist" at Sun.
While McNealy and Schwartz are known to be as different as chalk from cheese - in terms of their political affiliations, they have always complemented each other on business strategy. About Schwartz, McNealy had this to say - that the two of them are very much "aligned".
McNealy insisted that the change-of-hand was not abrupt and that he was making room for Schwartz and other senior Sun executives who are already in the process of formulating annual strategy and spending for the coming fiscal. McNealy stressed that he would continue to work full-time as head of Sun Microsystem's efforts to sell to the federal government.
Post the announcement that McNealy would step-aside as CEO, but would remain as chairman of the company, shares of Sun - a powerhouse during the dot-com heyday, rose almost 9 percent to $5.42.
Founded in the early 80's as a maker of computer work-stations for technical and scientific computing applications, Sun rose to prominence banking on the shift away from proprietary mainframes and minicomputers towards commodity components and open standards.
However in 2000 there was a financial melt-down of sorts in the computing equipment market, of which Sun found itself a victim.
McNealy - known among other things, for his quips including calling Microsoft Windows software a "giant hairball," was the man who eventually turned Sun around into a major force not only in high-end computing but of late also in the field of smaller machines.
McNealy's legacy remains not only the company he built but also a generation of technology leaders who worked under him such as Zander, now chief executive, Motorola; Eric E Schmidt, chief executive, Google; et al.
Jonathan Schwartz (40), ex-software entrepreneur, joined Sun in 1996 when it took-over his company, Lighthouse Design. The man has since earned the reputation of being "innovative strategist" at Sun.
While McNealy and Schwartz are known to be as different as chalk from cheese - in terms of their political affiliations, they have always complemented each other on business strategy. About Schwartz, McNealy had this to say - that the two of them are very much "aligned".
McNealy insisted that the change-of-hand was not abrupt and that he was making room for Schwartz and other senior Sun executives who are already in the process of formulating annual strategy and spending for the coming fiscal. McNealy stressed that he would continue to work full-time as head of Sun Microsystem's efforts to sell to the federal government.
Post the announcement that McNealy would step-aside as CEO, but would remain as chairman of the company, shares of Sun - a powerhouse during the dot-com heyday, rose almost 9 percent to $5.42.
Founded in the early 80's as a maker of computer work-stations for technical and scientific computing applications, Sun rose to prominence banking on the shift away from proprietary mainframes and minicomputers towards commodity components and open standards.
However in 2000 there was a financial melt-down of sorts in the computing equipment market, of which Sun found itself a victim.
McNealy - known among other things, for his quips including calling Microsoft Windows software a "giant hairball," was the man who eventually turned Sun around into a major force not only in high-end computing but of late also in the field of smaller machines.
McNealy's legacy remains not only the company he built but also a generation of technology leaders who worked under him such as Zander, now chief executive, Motorola; Eric E Schmidt, chief executive, Google; et al.
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