The Argument for IBM Firing Ginni Rometty

We are disappointed in our performance. We saw a marked slowdown in September in client buying behavior, and our results also point to the unprecedented pace of change in our industry. While we did not produce the results we expected to achieve, we again performed well in our strategic growth areas — cloud, data and analytics, security, social and mobile — where we continue to shift our business. We will accelerate this transformation.

She was given the CEO job at the start of January 2012, and IBM has deteriorated since then.

The most recent quarter figures proved that the decline has not ended:

Total revenues from continuing operations for the third-quarter of 2014 of $22.4 billion were down 4 percent (down 2 percent, adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing business and for currency) from the third-quarter of 2013.

… diluted earnings from continuing operations of $3.46 per share, compared with diluted earnings of $3.77 per share in the third-quarter of 2013, a decrease of 8 percent. Operating (non-GAAP) diluted earnings from continuing operations were $3.68 per share compared with operating diluted earnings of $4.08 per share in the third-quarter of 2013, a decrease of 10 percent.

Third-quarter net income from continuing operations was $3.5 billion compared with $4.1 billion in the third-quarter of 2013, a decrease of 17 percent. Operating (non-GAAP) net income from continuing operations was $3.7 billion, as compared with $4.5 billion in the third-quarter of 2013, a decrease of 18 percent.

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Revenue at all major IBM divisions — Global Technology Services, Global Business Services, Software, Systems and Technology, and Global Financing — declined.

Hardware, and particularly mainframe sales, plunged:

Revenues from continuing operations from the Systems and Technology segment totaled $2.4 billion for the quarter, down 15 percent (down 15 percent, adjusting for currency) from the third-quarter of 2013. Systems and Technology pre-tax loss increased $91 million to a loss of $99 million.

Revenues from Power Systems were down 12 percent compared with the 2013 period. Revenues from System x were down 10 percent. Revenues from System z mainframe server products decreased 35 percent compared with the year-ago period. Revenues from System Storage decreased 6 percent.

IBM’s board need to reconsider the choice of Rometty as CEO. Since she took up the reins, shares are down more than 8%, compared to the rise in the S&P 500 of more than 49%.