https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/18/ibm_sued_securities_fraud
"Literally, a cabal of the worst of the worst got in charge of IBM and destroyed its reputation," Cummings said.
13 replies (most recent on top)
They're criminals put them into high security prisons to rot and die.
Wait a minute here! These are merely allegations. Why are we assuming they are automatically guilty
The mainframe is an IBM monopoly and thus IBM’s money maker. You would be naive if you didn’t expect IBM to fully exploit that monopoly. That’s why IBM bought Redhat and changed strategy. To exploit the mainframe legacy code to be rewritten in LINUX and withdrawal from everything non-mainframe related. There is way too much money in Enterprise and not enough in everything else. Bundling for strategic investments has been a process within IBM since Sam’s time and that’s exactly how the exec’s will portray it if this ever sees the inside of a court room. The quarterly earnings analysts calls have been quite forthcoming on the bundling strategy, so it’s going to be almost impossible to win this case unless the lawyers have a smoking g-n saying IBM is committing fraud. Even IBM’s exec’s are not that foolish to say that, but will rather say “we bundled for strategic investment”
As usual, the mainframe is what is dragging along the rest of the company. That is where the meat of the company. The rest is just gravy hanging on.
Bad behavior in the workplace is seldom just the result of a few "bad eggs". It rather happens because leadership either failed to notice warning signs that something was entirely wrong, or failed to communicate how serious an offence it was. Or in this case perhaps directed it from the very top by someone IBM still pays for her "favors"?
It appears AK was involved in this fraud? If true, he should step down either voluntarily or after being asked by the board. If IBM is found to be guilty of misleading its shareholders, now is the time for a major shake up at the helm.
I also remember earlier IBM mislabeling of revenue, to the point where Jack Bogle (founder of Vanguard) and Warren Buffett called this out, and the latter voted with his feet and sold his large stake of IBM Stocks.
These are pretty serious charges... We as employees have to take BCG every year and how come same Executives who mandate these courses commit such financial frauds ...This is something that IBM should come clean either in ama-ibm channel or during ask arvind hours... such hyprocracy from executives should not be tolerated from ibm employees.
It's really sad, I would even say tragic, that an icon of American business and innovation like IBM fell under the influence of corrupt, greedy, and incompetent Managers. These Managers are an absolute disgrace, whose only motivation was to enrich themselves at the expense of IBM employees, shareholders, customers, and the company itself. If these Managers had an ounce of integrity, they would be ashamed of themselves ... but they are sociopaths who have no morals, consciences, or self-awareness ... so they continue to pillage IBM for all it's worth. 😟
So embarrassing working at this globalist corporate shithole
I particularly like this quote in the article, from an IBM source:
"This is a decades-long, Enron-level grift perpetrated by upper management."
The article seems to be mostly a rehash of old news.
I speculate that most people in IBM sales knew this was going on. This fraud was widespread and went on for a long time. The primary reason was that not only the executives but also simple low level sales people got handily rewarded for mislabeling Mainframe revenue.
I trust this is against the law and IBM will be punished. This is and was a sick corporate culture.
Thanks for posting. It's long, but thorough. And most likely, 100% accurate.