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Michael Dell Steps Down as CEO 320

Posted by CowboyNeal from the corporate-musical-chairs dept.
A whole lot of readers made sure we knew that Michael Dell is calling it quits as CEO of Dell, and has named Kevin Rollins, the current president and chief operating officer of Dell, as his successor. Rollins will retain the title of president, but Michael Dell hasn't left completely. He's still planning on sticking around as chairman of the board.
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Michael Dell Steps Down as CEO More

Michael Dell Steps Down as CEO

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  • Dude.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:43PM (#8470196)
    You're getting a huge pension!

    • Re:Dude.... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by cachorro ( 576097 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:58PM (#8470373)
      Actually, I had noticed that Mr. Dell cashed in a cool billion worth of stock last December. It must be nice to be able to take that much money off the table, and still be a major stakeholder.

      I wonder if he will simply take time to enjoy life, or perhaps he has a new pet project that has piqued his interest.

      Best wishes Michael, and thanks for all the magazine covers.

    • Re:Dude.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by t0ny ( 590331 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @11:10PM (#8471863)
      Mike Dell is really following intelligent business. The jobs of CEO and Chairman, while it looks good on your resume to hold both, are really two jobs with completely different responsibilities, and unless its a really small corp, they should really be done by two separate people.

      It was all the rage in the dot-bomb era, but as usually reality comes crashing back in, demonstrating that there really IS a reason businesses run the way they do. So kudos to MD, who went out on top, unlike Eisner who had to be forced out. But the difference between the two is that MD is looking out for his company, and Eisner is looking out for Eisner.

      • Re:Dude.... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Zeinfeld ( 263942 ) on Friday March 05, 2004 @12:33AM (#8472389) Homepage
        Mike Dell is really following intelligent business. The jobs of CEO and Chairman, while it looks good on your resume to hold both, are really two jobs with completely different responsibilities, and unless its a really small corp, they should really be done by two separate people.

        The problem being that to do the job of chairman effectively you usually have to have been the ex-CEO. So michael Dell is only following the normal practice for a founder, giving up the day to day running of the business and keeping the long term governance position.

        The dotcom startups were not really abberations here. There is not much point in having a chairman in a company that is only a few years old. if the management team are crooks or jerks then the truck is going to hit the wall and all the investors will lose their money in any case.

        What was an abberation was when the long established companies started running themselves in this way. Michael Eisener did not create Disney, he should not have unfettered control. He should not be paid so much for such mediocre results.

  • Just what Dell needs` (Score:5, Funny)

    by _Sexy_Pants_ ( 703751 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:43PM (#8470199)
    a bad*ss like Henry Rollins tearin' it up as CEO. "CUZ I'M A LIAR!"

  • Damn. (Score:5, Funny)

    by pclminion ( 145572 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:44PM (#8470203)
    "Dude, you're getting a Rollins" just doesn't have the same ring to it...

  • The Dell in Dell (Score:5, Funny)

    by lewko ( 195646 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:44PM (#8470213) Homepage
    So if Michael Dell is stepping down and Kevin Rollins is taking over, does this mean I will soon be able to buy a PC with Rollins written on the case?

    Awesome!

  • So Much for AtAT Plot Lines... (Score:5, Funny)

    by the pickle ( 261584 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:46PM (#8470231) Homepage
    He didn't even wait to copycat Steve [appleturns.com] on this one! What a shame!

    p

  • So basically no change here... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by overbyj ( 696078 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:47PM (#8470247)
    Someone like Dell will not go quietly into night. Even though his title is changing, nobody believes that he still won't have a profound influence over the company. It is his baby. THis will most likely be like Gates and MS. Sure, his title is different than what it used to be but he certainly still has a tremendous influence.

  • New Perspective (Score:4, Interesting)

    by LacroixDP ( 759112 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:48PM (#8470254)
    Dell has gone a long way in the industry and has helped computing for the masses under Michael Dell's leadership. However, I'm hopefull the new CEO will increase the declining quality of Dell's products. I believe that their cost-cutting measures have really injured their corporate following; they aren't perceived as being as high of quality as they once were.

  • Dell Steps Down (Score:5, Funny)

    by pyrrhonist ( 701154 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:50PM (#8470281)
    Said Dell, "It just got to the point where I was so damn rich, It just wasn't fun any more."

    • Re:Dell Steps Down (Score:5, Insightful)

      by palutke ( 58340 ) * on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:59PM (#8470377)
      That's probably not too far from the truth. At some point, I'd probably lose motivation if I had more money than I could possibly spend.

      Hell, there are days now when I don't have much motivation, and I'm just a lowly mechanical engineer.
    • Hey dude, if you got too much money, I'll be happy to take some off your hands.

    • Re:Dell Steps Down (Score:5, Funny)

      by wass ( 72082 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:47PM (#8470845)
      Actually, the conversation went more like this:

      Mr. Dell : I would like to step down as CEO. Here's my written statement.
      Boardroom Exec : Whoa, that's one helluva doozy, your memo doesn't look right. Are you sure the power cord is plugged in to your computer?
      Mr. Dell : Yes, this isn't a computer issue at all. I want to step down as CEO. Let's elect someone else.
      Boardroom Exec : No, that cannot be right. Okay, reboot your computer and try printing our your memo again. That should fix the problem.
      Mr. Dell : No you nitwit, I just want to resign. I know it, and I want us all to elect a new CEO.
      Boardroom Exec : Okay okay, now I know what's wrong. Before we do anything else I want you to reinstall these drivers on your computer and then give me the memo again. That should really fix the problem this time.
      Mr. Dell : Argh, I don't have time for this crap. I know what I want to do, just listen to me. I've been running the show for years, and now I know I want to leave. Let's convene a chairholder's meeting now.
      Boardroom Exec : No, we cannot do that yet. It wasn't a driver issue, so it must be the OS. Before we convene any meetings you'll have to reinstall windows on your computer so we can all make sure this is a legit memo. I'll hold as you do that .......
      Mr. DellAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!

      • Re:Dell Steps Down (Score:4, Informative)

        by SnappleMaster ( 465729 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @09:12PM (#8471031)
        In a related (and 100% true) note:

        Two weeks ago I cancelled an order for a $1400 projector with Dell because that morning they send me an email saying the projector would be shipping in the middle of March. 15 minutes on hold and the call is disconnected by gremlins. Next try: 45 minutes (yes, really) on the phone and the order is cancelled. I'm a little steamed at this point about the phone time but oh well.

        Three days after that I got an email from Dell saying that the projector had shipped. I call Dell. 20 minutes (quick this time, ROFL) later I have my marching orders: "when the projector arrives just refuse delivery". Sounds good to me. I am only slightly pissed off.

        The projector arrives two days early so my "DHL: I refuse delivery of Dell's package" sign is not yet hung up on my door. DHL leaves the package on my doorstep. This is a $1400 item, shipped without "signature required". WTF? Now I am annoyed.

        The next day I call Dell. Hold time is less than 3 minutes but it still takes 30 minutes for the Customer Care chick to arrange DHL pickup at my house. At the end of the call she asks, "are you satisfied with Dell's service in this matter"? I laugh, exert all my force of will to refrain from swearing, and say "no I am not ".

        The next day the package is picked up. Finally! I assume in 2 weeks Dell will charge my VISA for the order and I'll get to do it all again.

  • Michael Dell, visonnaire??? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:51PM (#8470294)
    This is not a troll, really. I'm just surprised they said something sorta like "Michael will think about The Next Big Thing (tm)" when they are just a hyper-efficient marketing arm/merchandizing facade for Intel. "Dell and R&D" don't go together in my mind, contrary to "Apple and R&D" or "IBM and R&D". Dell is nothing more than a glorified Northgate (or Everex, whatever).

    No, IMO, this does not jive. Either M. Dell has other objectives (politics, maybe, I dunno) or there was some sort of back-stage coup.

    • Re:Michael Dell, visonnaire??? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:03PM (#8470408)
      I once got to speak with a fairly high-up person in Dell. Our VP was keen to switch from Compaq (pre HP merger) and had known this guy for years. So I call the guy, and he asks why I preferred Compaq. One of the reasons I cited was Compaq's history of contributing technology and otherwise pushing the industry forward a little bit. His reply: "Yeah, our strategy is pretty much to let Compaq do the work and then just copy them and sell it cheaper."

      Now, this didn't really surprise me, as I've been in the industry a long time and knew that was pretty much the case. What stunned me was that he not only admitted it, but seemed proud of it. From that point on, I had yet another reason to never buy from them.

      • Exact quote? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by spideyct ( 250045 )
        That's sound more like a paraphrase, unless he was just speaking off the cuff. Dell's direct model has always been based on "give the customer what they want when they ask for it", as opposed to "spend a lot of money to build something new and then spend a lot of money trying to convince the customer they need it (at a premium price)", which is the basis of the companies which you, for some reason, prefer to do business with.
        Most companies would rather pay the best price for equipment that fulfills their n

        • This isn't much of a paraphrase. I've heard similar things from the inside of Dell in regards to Compaq's well-known and well-developed R&D division (now part of HP, but still intact as an R&D division last time I checked, which was admittedly many months ago).

          Compaq's R&D may be bleeding edge, but to say that it's "yet to be proven to fulfill a need" is just plain ignorant. Just because a SMB (small- to medium-size business) doesn't need systems running RAID arrays that can survive multipl

          • Just because a SMB (small- to medium-size business) doesn't need systems running RAID arrays that can survive multiple simultaneous drive failures [which Compaq pioneered]

            Actually, no, they didn't [dell.com] do all the RAID pioneering in the PC world. The DDA was an in-house-designed product that was pretty darned nifty for its time, and resulted in quite a few patents for the people who worked on it.

            Back in the early 90s, Dell was actually shaping up to be a formidable engineering company in its own right. We (I

    • Um, wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gregwbrooks ( 512319 ) * <gregb AT west-third DOT net> on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:53PM (#8470897)
      Dell is utterly visionary and their R&D people are first-rate -- just not at developing products.

      The Dell vision has been and continues to be to enter markets just before they reach commoditization and to rapidly scale up market share by undercutting on price.

      Think they don't have R&D people? Think again -- they've got hundreds. But those hundreds are busy looking for the next market Dell can enter and dominate (think of how they entered the server market and, more recently, the PDA market).

      Just because someone spends their R&D dollars on econometric models and market research rather than trying to invent truly new products doesn't mean they're not innovating. Dell taught an entire generation of successful companies how to analyze, parse, enter and dominate markets.

    • Re:Michael Dell, visonnaire??? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by craenor ( 623901 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:59PM (#8470946) Homepage
      Actually, Dell pushes tons of research and development. It's just not done in house.

      When Dell squeezes more features into a portable, desktop, pda or server, how do you think they do it? They go to their vendors and tell them what they want a product to be able to do, then their vendors trip over themselves to develop just that very thing so Dell will buy it.

      That alone has spurred more change and inovation in the computer industry then most people would believe.

    • Re:Michael Dell, visonnaire??? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by tverbeek ( 457094 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @09:03PM (#8470981) Homepage
      The company's technological innovation may be questionable, but Michael Dell was a visionary, in terms of the marketing and distribution of computers. Back when I was schlepping my fresh college transcript to possible employers asking for a job (Dell and I are the same age), he was taking out ads in computer trade magazines for built-to-order "PC's Limited Turbo XT" clones, sold through the mail or over the phone, with competent phone tech support and on-site service available. No storefront. No sales force. And affordable prices, because you were buying directly from the manufacturer (assembly plant, actually).

      I wish I could say that I liked the idea so much I bought the company, but all I could afford at the time was to buy one of the machines. (Heck, that's about all my current budget could afford, either.) It's how everyone does this stuff today (with order-placing over the net instead of by phone/mail), but it was considered a kinda crazy business model in the mid-1980's, and he made a go of it... and made it work.

    • The man is a genius, not in technology, but in understanding supply chains, distribution, and margins. Computers are a strange industry -- you can practically watch them lose value as they sit on the shelf. The company that best implements "just-in-time" delivery of parts and just-in-time assembly in an industry where suppliers are notorious for playing games, can operate with lowest margins, and thus wins on grounds of price/performance. Dell has obviously been more successful in doing this then others, no

  • Dell said that research is overrated (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:51PM (#8470299)
    Dell said at Oracle conference in SF last year that SUN and HP spend too much on overrated research and development and consequently are driving the cost of their systems up even higher.

    He should be fired now.

  • And when we say (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:52PM (#8470300)
    And when we say "sticking around as chairman of the board", we mean "snorting cocaine off the backs of hookers on his yacht".

  • This is similar to Bill Gates stepping down... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by b0r0din ( 304712 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:53PM (#8470313)
    We all know who the puppetmaster is. You don't have to wear all the hats to still be the man behind the curtain. This doesn't surprise me, Dell's quality has suffered in recent months and it wouldn't surprise me if he was doing this to take some of the pressure off of himself.

    I think this is actually a very wise move by Dell, because while this is a guy who started a business on his own and became extremely good at it, I would be surprised (I honestly don't know) if he was that business school MBA who can lead a company over the long run. Plus, if Rollins messes up, he can always blame the new CEO for all the problems.

  • No More Pay Cuts (Score:5, Interesting)

    by xeon4life ( 668430 ) <devin.devintorres@com> on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:54PM (#8470326) Homepage Journal
    Maybe under this new leadership Dell will stop it's massive pay cuts to ensure it will have enough money for it's "10K A Day Giveaway."

    I would know. My dad is one of the best Dell's licensing sales rep in his building and went from making bank (compared to what he used to make at Circuit City) to making near $60,000. Not only was it shocking at the time, it was appalling when two days later Dell announced it's "10K A Day Giveaway," not to mention the massive payroll cuts a few weeks after that.

    • Re:No More Pay Cuts (Score:3, Insightful)

      by NateTech ( 50881 )
      You do understand that to a very large percentage of people right here in the U.S. (not some small underdeveloped nation) that $60K a year would be "making bank"?

      Go hang around a homeless shelter for a while and do some volunteering, it might get that snooty attitude off your face. Or just spend one afternoon sitting in the waiting room of an unemployment office. Best yet, just buy some poor kids toys at Christmas and realize they're that poor YEAR 'ROUND.

      Those of us that lived through layoffs that turn

  • 'Cause I'm a LIAR (Score:4, Funny)

    by VitrosChemistryAnaly ( 616952 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @07:57PM (#8470357) Journal
    "Michael Dell is calling it quits as CEO of Dell, and has named Kevin Rollins..."

    Oh man, it'd be so much cooler if he named Henry Rollins as his successor. There would really be some ass kicking going on then...

    Dude, you're getting a fucking punch in the face!!!
    • If it was Henry, then he would have enough money to implement his plan to buy every hot woman a 357 magnum. His idea was, to give em' all guns, so the next time they're walking by a contruction site and some chicken s&*# worker yells something from 6 stories up, the woman can at least shoot back.

      I thought it was a good idea.

      Sorry, incredibly offtopic.

  • Dell & Linux anyone? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kevin Burtch ( 13372 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:00PM (#8470384)
    Anyone know if the new guy is Linux-friendly?

    I know Dell claims to be, and pretended to try Linux on consumer systems and gave up claiming "they weren't selling"... but that was because of the systems they chose to list Linux as an option with.

    Just because we like an OS that _happens_ to be free (in both senses of the word), doesn't mean we're cheapskates!

    How many Linux users do you know who would go out and buy the bottom-of-the-line of anything?
    We go for the hotrods, bigger/better/faster/more.
    I don't care if that monster notebook weighs 8.5#, I'm not a wimp, I want the power and rediculously-high resolution screen!

    Actually - after reading an article [ucsd.edu] on installing Linux on an I8600, I priced one - amazing how cheap you can get a 1920x1200 LCD notebook for these days.

    Too bad it requires the MS-tax.

    The 1st thing I'd do with it is shrink down the MS partition to as small as it goes (to keep it around to make the diag-drones happy) and install Linux on it. (just like I did with the notebook I'm typing this on, sadly only having 1400x1050 on the LCD).

    • Well, duh! (was Re:Dell & Linux anyone?) (Score:4, Insightful)

      by CaptKilljoy ( 687808 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:12PM (#8470510)
      I'd think that the answer is obvious: Rollins will be Linux-friendly if he thinks it will make Dell more money and he won't if he doesn't.

    • How many Linux users do you know who would go out and buy the bottom-of-the-line of anything?

      Well, I run mostly BSD-based os's, but 90% of my computers are pre-1998. My email server, for example, is a 486.

      One of the fundamental cool things about most open-source operating systems is their ability to run on almost any hardware.

      I know thats not what you're going at right now, but I thought it was a good point :)

  • Outsourced? (Score:5, Funny)

    by MooseByte ( 751829 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:04PM (#8470417)

    When I first read the headline I thought Dell had finally outsourced their CEO position.

    (No doubt to be closer to the core of the company.)

    Support top-down outsourcing!

  • Better Linux Support??? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Supp0rtLinux ( 594509 ) <Supp0rtLinux@yahoo.com> on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:04PM (#8470420)
    I can only hope that Mr. Rollins has the balls to step up and start supporting Linux. Dell has always been so wishy-washy about it... especially since they are known to get the largest discounts from M$. Perhaps a new CEO will mean new life for a new millenium and we'll actually get better Linux support across more of their product line.

    BTW: anyone notice that Dell's latest snail mail ad catalog was offering RedHat? So was Gateway's.

    The only thing necessary for Micro$oft to triumph is for a few good programmers to do nothing". North County Computers [nccomp.com]

  • A new career (Score:3, Informative)

    by bmiller949 ( 681252 ) * on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:04PM (#8470421)
    Why doesn't Michael Dell become a school teacher like Woz and actually make a difference in someone's life. He doen't need money but he could do something personally enriching.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:07PM (#8470451)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Henry Rollins named new Dell CEO (Score:4, Funny)

    by HarveyBirdman ( 627248 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:10PM (#8470486) Journal
    "Misery, depression, elation all mine. Refine confinement all my design." said Henry Rollins to puzzled reporters at a press conference. "I reach deep inside myself. I rip out a handful of bleeding crackling wires. I squeeze the juice out. I burn them out. I want to see where the truth lies."

    Rollins then proceeded to scream primally and body slam the dainty woman from CNN. DELL stock actually managed to reach negative numbers in early trading but closed out at a price of 2.3x10^-30 per share.

  • Actually .... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Hungus ( 585181 )
    It was more like Dude you getting voted out. The Article doesn't mention it, but radio mentioned that he did not get re- elected to his position as CEO and so they decided to split the position. I can't find mention of it online yet however so no link.

    • Re:Actually .... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by flosofl ( 626809 )
      Are you sure you're not confusing "Dell" with "Disney"?

      Because that's what happened to Eisner at Disney. Except he got a no-confidence from the shareholders (40+% abstained). He was still elected by default because no one ran against him. The Disney board decided to split the positions with seperate people as Chairman and CEO. Eisner is still the CEO (because he has that position contractually until 2006) and Mitchell is now the Chairman.

      Or is it because they both start with the letter "D"? I'm sure

  • And his replacement is... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Hanji ( 626246 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:19PM (#8470574)
    A Calcutta Orangutang. [bbspot.com]

  • Not a big deal, really (Score:5, Insightful)

    by real gumby ( 11516 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:20PM (#8470582)
    One of the reforms suggested (i.e. not enforced by any code or law) by the SEC as a response to the enron/worldcom pseudo-scandal is that the job of CEO and chairman be split. Note that Disney just did this in the hopes of deflecting some dirt.

    In the case of Dell: if your company is doing well but you want to split this job to make the Street happy, well, would you take the job that involves more work or the one that involves less? So the CEO job becomes more like a COO...and guess what? Rollins is the COO right now!

    Like other posters I doubt this implies much change for Dell the company or Dell the man.

  • snafu (Score:3, Funny)

    by Supp0rtLinux ( 594509 ) <Supp0rtLinux@yahoo.com> on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:20PM (#8470584)
    When I first glanced at this... I coulda sworn it said "Cowboy Neil Steps Down as CEO of Bell Labs".

    The only thing necessary for Micro$oft to triumph is for a few good programmers to do nothing". North County Computers [nccomp.com]
  • Gates scratched his backside, Linus got a haircut and Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. Film at 11.

  • the GIANT HEAD just got smaller... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    the GIANT HEAD of Dell, just got a little smaller.

    Actually this is just a investors game. In the wake of some of the corporate scandals, large investors are pushing for the appearance of "better corporate governance". They would prefer that the Chairman of the Board is not also the CEO. The Board is supposed to provide oversight over the people running the day to day operations.

    See what just happened at Disney with Eisner.

    Gates and Balmer played this game a while back. Let Uncle Fester run the company
  • Isn't that all those catalogs are good for?

  • Sadly, it doesn't work this way... (Score:4, Funny)

    by bersl2 ( 689221 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:44PM (#8470815) Journal
    He's still planning on sticking around as chairman of the board.

    You have been elected Chairman of the Board (again).
    Pay each player $50.

  • Asked for a reason... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lars T. ( 470328 ) <{Lars.Traeger} {at} {googlemail.com}> on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:45PM (#8470825) Journal
    Micheal Dell answered: " I just once wanted to do something where Steve Jobs had to follow my footsteps."

  • Dell's job was actually outsourced... (Score:3, Funny)

    by whyde ( 123448 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:51PM (#8470883)
    ...to India [bbspot.com]!

    It's true! I read it on BBspot earlier today!

  • Dell sucks... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SteveXE ( 641833 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @09:44PM (#8471290)
    Im sure this is happening because Dell's once bright image is fading into darkness and they are quickly becoming the next Packard Bell, selling junk computers and worse support for them.

  • Ted Waitt (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TheViewFromTheGround ( 607422 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @09:56PM (#8471375) Homepage

    Ted Waitt did the same thing at Gateway three or four years ago, to pursue his interests in sexual violence prevention and equitable access to technology. Oddly enough I work on both of those, and have had the chance to meet him several times. Waitt's intelligence and money have helped in these areas, and I can only hope that Michael Dell might think about doing something similar.

  • Whew! (Score:3, Funny)

    by cyclist1200 ( 513080 ) on Friday March 05, 2004 @10:50AM (#8474895) Homepage
    For a second there I was starting to think this [bbspot.com] was true!

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