"There have been a few customers that are not great fans of IBM…"
https://www.itprotoday.com/linux/red-hats-jim-whitehurst-ibm-merger-suse-and-ubuntu
11 replies (most recent on top)
This guy is completely insane. Ever read some of his past statements in the news? I certainly hope that he doesn’t become CEO. There are so many better outside hires from the tech community who could replace Ginni. Even a PE firm could do a better job and would trim the fat. Do the right thing, IBM.
For the comment on SUSE please forget .
SUSE is fully supported by an important european country : Germany
They have also full support from SAP .
So RH k--ling SUSE is a dream
-2dhm you are naive. Take the free snacks and drinks but lose your job in 12 months, and you call that a good result? Every acquired company thought it was special and it would change IBM. Every one of them was wrong.
Jim Whitehurst will receive $70 million for his Red Hat stock. Based on similar but smaller IBM takeovers, he will also receive from $50 to $100 million in 2-3 years as a signing bonus so long as he does as he's told and continues to say nice things.
Under these conditions, he is likely to say anything. Who can blame him? On the other hand, why would anyone believe him?
I would still be very careful. IBM is a very nasty company to work for. I was a FLM for over ten years and worked their since graduating from college. My professional hires would tell me IBM culture was one of fear and intimidation. Tell me what IBM acquisition has not been overtaken and ruined by IBM? Go back to ROLM in the early 1980s? IBM finance will k--l RH in a year or 18 mos.
So sorry for the Red Hatters. Only chance for success is if Whitehurst and your SR Execs run the company and IBM flushed the Sr Execs from NY and moves the HQ to Raleigh.
At Red Hat we hear how Red Hat is going to red wash IBM. We hear how the announcement of the acquisition brought free drinks and snacks back to IBM RTP campus. We are also planning to visit local IBM offices to meet and greet IBM folks. Red Hat is already changing IBM.
Wis. I believe you have hit the nail on the head. RH will replace a lot of the legacy stuff that has, or will be sold off. RH will also replace a lot of the SUSE install base. Why, because it has the home field advantage. That brings us to the second part of your question which is will RH be assimilated. That’s where the rubber hits the road. Ginni, and most of the exec team are due to retire. The question will be, will the board pull the trigger for a change in course? They need to, as the current exec team did exactly what their pay plan told them to do (Maximize IBM share value by any means possible). The financial games were and are a current Wall Street joke. Wall Street is demanding change, and only the IBM board can deliver it (yes change is a leadership issue). IBM has rolled the dice in the past (gerstner) and I believe they will do it again. I would expect to see the board place more responsibility for IBM’s future into red hats hands (you don’t spend 34 billion for more of the same). If I had to give odds, Jim becomes CEO with Ginni retiring early next year. Jim will focus on the go forward Cloud/Cognitive plan, and Ginni will focus on reducing the Empty calories portion of IBM. There is approx 20 billion in revenue that IBM doesn’t want. Why. Because after subtracting IBM’s overhead (burden rate) of 25-30%, that revenue is empty calories It makes zero to negative earnings. Parts of GTS, GBS, HW (Storage and scale out power excluding LINUX boxes), and IGF. You will see movement on all of these fronts. Everything in moderation. As Jim grows the one side, IBM will shrink the other side. IBM has for years projected a mid level single digit growth rate. Look for that model to carry on as IBM moves forward. IBM just doesn’t want to lose 20 billion in revenue overnight, without having the other side of the ledger show something for it. Ginni’s swan song will be some sort of financial engineering to make the 20 billion divorce look palatable
@cvs - and they'll damn sure get assimilated into the next round of ELA's. I suspect RH products will replace legacy stuff, but you're absolutely right, IBM HR will apply common benefits, bands, and bullsh*t as soon as they can.
Yes, resistance is futile... you will be assimilated... Good luck Red Hat!
As soon as they get the cancer that is IBM internal bloat you can consider RH garbage.
Ala Tivoli and Softlayer
The whole "will IBM keep Red Hat as a separate company or assimilate them?" question that comes up in every article is getting tiring. It's not a question of whether it's a question of when. Sure, they'll let them operate independently for a period of time. Probably at least a year, maybe two years even. But it's not going to go on indefinitely, they will be assimilated into IBM eventually. And the pressure from the accountants to manage earnings to the penny will start day one. Anyone that thinks otherwise is delusional.