Something isn't right. They had a finalist who dropped out? It's been 6 months and suddenly Tom Jenkins has gone cold quiet. There is some significant disagreement going on amongst the board and internal division.
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I heard that former Slack executive Lidiane Jones is on the short list.
Becoming more obvious by the day that whoever the 'choosen' one was has possibly changed their mind. If you were a senior player who was now approached what do you think when you were plan b, c, or d.. The real concern is OT will now be forced to appoint internally, this will look horrendous to the markets, concerning times ahead.
@jg how is he different from Paul Duggan or Mark Barrenechea?
Actually Prentiss would make a stellar CEO inn my opinion.
@hp Prentiss will be the CEO of the Webroot spinoff. OpenText needs an outsider to turn the company around.
Interesting Prentiss has been brought back in as a consultant. I am surprised he’s hasn’t been made CEO.
@d0 Nah, if the board wanted James they would have named him from the get-go. James was placed in that role for one reason and one reason only. He is Tom Jenkins puppet. Tom Jenkins is running. Open text, through through James. Jenkins made it very clear to employees on that all hands call. He joined shortly after Mark was fired, that James is a close, personal, trusted friend and former business partner. It will look awful to analysts if suddenly the person who wasn't good enough to be your CEO and was named as interim is suddenly your guy.
@e5 First OpenText needs to offload all non core products. The remaining core products considered a "Cash Cow"—it has high recurring revenue from software maintenance and cloud subscriptions and low operating and R&D expense. This predictable cash flow is exactly what private equity firms look for because it ensures they can pay off the massive debt used to buy the company. And I agree, they will name James as the CEO and let go all the US ELT.
Also, not out of the realm of possibility, they are taking OT private.
Then, they can skinny up the balance sheet (including layoffs) without having the regulatory burden of public companies. Not having this distraction will enable them to focus and execute their ultimate plan.
@d0
I think you are right.
This is the closest scenario as to why the lag in announcing a new CEO (especially if that CEO may only be warming a seat until the transaction (or transactionS) go through.
They had someone. That someone cleared house ready to be announced. That someone has now pulled out.
100% they're going to announce James as the next CEO. Mr Bland who trips over his own feet while standing still will hold course and ready us for either a full on break-up and divestiture or for a wholesale sale to someone like SAP or IBM.
BOD changes recently might be influence as well.
They can't get anyone interested that won't tank the stock. Who would want this job
@ae That's very insightful. Who of Mark's direct reports are still left? It is odd that the leader in charge of sales, Mark's hire, hasn't been "managed out" yet?
Cleaning the court before the coronation.