Sun Micro: Could CEO Be On His Way Out?

There’s change brewing at Sun Microsystems (JAVA), and it could include a shift at the top, according to Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research.

In his periodic Silicon Scoop newsletter, Chowdhry wrote this morning that “contacts tell us that [a] search is probably on to find a new CEO at Sun,” raising questions about the status of current chief Jonathan Schwartz, who took over the top spot from Scott McNealy in April 2006. Since Schwartz moved to the top spot, JAVA shares are down 50%.

Chowdhry also writes that “contacts expect” 1,000-2,000 more layoffs at Sun over the next 1-2 months. His same contacts report that “Sun’s execution continues to be extremely poor, and they continue to lose deals” to both IBM (IBM) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). He says it will likely take another three quarters for things to stabilize at Sun.

JAVA today closed down 52 cents, or 5%, to $9.86. The stock once again set a new 52-week low; as I noted yesterday, the stock hasn’t been this low since 2002.

Comments

[mkreisel]

I once attended a talk by Jonathan Schwartz. This guy made so many factual errors that it was even funny.

I never touched the Sun stock again.