Thread regarding IBM layoffs

What value does a CEO like Alvind bring to the table ?

Other than chopping US employee heads and buying expensive and unproductive applications and tools from other companies, what does Alvind do to justify his $20+ million bonus ? Certainly AI from IBM is not the best in the industry, nor the research in technologies like Quantum. Other than cutting costs by moving jobs to India and lower cost countries, what else does this man do to justify his continued tenure as IBM Chairman ? Cheaper and better CEOs are certainly available with so many companies going out of business these days. Being on other company boards is not a good answer either. The IBM board should review what the CEO does to make IBM more profitable for shareholders.

The same question needs to be asked of every member of Alvind's pathetic team in the US, particularly the guy who cooks the books in F&O. Shareholders want quality, not problems.

by Anonymous
| 1111 views | | 16 replies (last September 27, 2024) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1uH56XND
Comment! It's anonymous!

16 replies (most recent on top)

@tcg

What goes up must fall down - the inevitable law of gravity , stocks and life too.

Nothing goes up forever contrary to what id--ts like Alvind and Kavanaugh think. The investment bankers on Wall street also like to fool you into thinking stocks will go up forever. LOL !

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @1pgp+1uH56XND

It could be worse for “Big Blue”…they could have the poster child for the ‘dark triad’…AT&T’s John Stankey.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @1jnn+1uH56XND

AK value is being an Indian and knowing the Indian Prime Minister.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @1bzf+1uH56XND

Oh an easy question. AK has a very valuable star power just like a famous actor in the movies.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @1hid+1uH56XND

Let's be honest: IBM has been using accounting gimmicks for years to look profitable. The jettison of the 401K is the fiscal equivalent of scrounging for change in the couch cushions to save money

by Cloud of Gas
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Post ID: @1xuu+1uH56XND

stock price up - but company not sustainable = riding the cash cow until the company is put to bed. Arvind does not add value... and the board will not do anything about it. Look how long they let Ginny destroy the company.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @hzt+1uH56XND

Arvind has a very polished technical background but as CEO and Chairman his only responsibility is to lower cost and keep those investors happy.

He relies on the CFO Kavanaugh for that. Kavanaugh is a bean counter and his Philosophy is less is more

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @czr+1uH56XND

IBM's Arvind in a nutshell: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/entities/publication/3699ab3e-fe8a-46fd-8681-6fb49667299a ("Beware Financialization, Attractive and Dangerous, but Mostly Dangerous"

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @udx+1uH56XND

90% of stock price gain has been last 4-5 months, let's see how long it holds.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @tcg+1uH56XND

a bad AI Chatbot could do a better job than AK

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @bsl+1uH56XND

Any older employee should ask themselves these questions:

Can my job be done somewhere else?

Can I compete in the current challenging IT job market to get another job?

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @zwx+1uH56XND

Arvind said :”I will replace every IBM dinosaur with cheaper, younger, hungrier Indians “

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @jxu+1uH56XND

AK said: “No more expensive complacent dinosaurs at IBM so I can make my $ millions “

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @wgq+1uH56XND

It’s to bring max value to investors on a short term basis

IBM Stock is at over 215 because they like when there are cuts. Less expense. Headcount eats a lot of the balance sheet

Arvind is in a position now that he’s only accountable to Wall Street

New products buzzwords like AI are just fluff
At the end of the day it’s a leaner company and that will continue to drive his compensation

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @sed+1uH56XND

Truth be told, without a Steve Jobs-, Bill Gates-, or Lou Gerstner-like figure at the helm IBM's course to obscurity will remain unchanged.

The very most that you can reasonably expect from most CEOs will be occasional efficiency increases in the company. In IBM's case this means layoffs.

IBM has a mature product offering (mainframes and enterprise software), an enterprise consulting business, and "everything else". The "everything else" is receiving lip service and not much else. Nobody in the IT industry really believes that IBM is putting much effort into either the established technologies (storage and mid-range) or the new technologies (AI and Quantum).

Most divisions have been sold off for cash. Every job in the west that can be offshored has been offshored. The entire product line (including mainframes) doesn't look to be receiving updates. In other companies, this would indicate a move into long-term maintenance mode (bug fixes only, new development shuttered).

Back to the OP's question. What value to AK bring to the table? He's a long-term IBM insider who is trusted by the BOD to be IBM's caretaker. This is important because IBM's future direction is really up to the BOD at this point. Personally, I'm not convinced that the BOD and the shareholders want anything more from IBM than "decent and predictable" stock and dividend prices.

In other words, they want an annuity. Nothing flashy, really boring, just keep the cash flow. That's IBM.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @yyq+1uH56XND

Like him or not the stock price has certainly done much better then when Ginny was at the helm….like in sports for managers, stock performance is an easy metric for the BOD to determine if a change is warranted….no way anything happens at this point other than by Arvind making a decision to step down on his own

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @arw+1uH56XND

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