2010年9月3日 星期五

FW: NEWSBANK: Blue Coat brings in new (mean looking) CEO


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寄件者: David Lieberman (PMM-US-ENT)
傳送日期: Saturday, September 04, 2010 12:52:03 AM
收件者: Newsbank
主旨: NEWSBANK: Blue Coat brings in new (mean looking) CEO
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Blue Coat shares jump as new CEO is named

Shares of Blue Coat Systems Inc. soared Wednesday after the security hardware and software maker named a new leader.

THE SPARK: The company said after the market close Tuesday that Michael J. Borman, previously the CEO of Avocent Corp., will be its new chief. He replaces Brian NeSmith, who has served as Blue Coat's CEO for more than a decade. NeSmith, 48, will move to the role of chief product officer.

THE ANALYSIS: In a client note, Wedbush analyst Rohit Chopra said the move shows that Blue Coat's board is "serious about improving the company's lackluster execution."

Chopra, who has an "Outperform" rating on the company's stock, said investors should expect a better performance from the company later in the year.

Douglas Ireland, of JMP Securities, said the hiring of Borman could be a prelude to a buyout. Borman, 55, joined Avocent in June 2008, restructured the company and sold it to Emerson Electric in December of last year.

Ireland said one likely scenario is that Blue Coat's board has "decided to tighten spending, increase margins, and sell the company."

 

Blue Coat brings in new CEO

Michael Borman replaces Brian Nesmith, who remains as chief product officer.

By Tim Greene, Network World
September 01, 2010 11:39 AM ET

Michael Borman

Blue Coat Systems has brought in a new CEO, spinning the change as a way to free up outgoing boss Brian Nesmith from the daily grind of managing the company to instead work on product strategy.

Blue Coat introduces cloud-based analysis system

Michael Borman, who most recently was CEO of Avocent, says he doesn't plan to change the overall strategy of Blue Coat, which focuses on security and improving performance of applications on networks.

"We have more opportunities than we can ever go after," Borman says. "I don't have to worry about a new strategy here."

Nesmith says the company had been looking for someone to replace him since January, not to steer the company in a different strategic direction but to create greater depth in the management team.

Needham analyst Scott Zeller says the appointment acknowledges that operations had faltered at Blue Coat, citing weak quarterly results and warnings that operations in Europe and the Middle East will produce less than expected in the next quarter.

But Blue Coat says the move is not in response to performance in the quarter ended July 1, as evidenced by the company starting its CEO search nine months ago.

In a conference call, Borman said he was not brought in to effect strategic change or to negotiate sale of the company, both of which happened on his watch at Avocent. The circumstances were different there, with the company's KVM switch business running dry, requiring a shift in focus.

Borman worked at IBM for 30 years and held senior executive positions there in products and sales. Later he was president and CEO of Blue Martini, which made intelligent sales software.

 

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