Symantec board boots ex-CEO Enrique Salem

Enrique Salem, president and CEO of Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC), has been kicked out. He's replaced by the board's chairman, Steve Bennett. It's said that Salem's lot was to preside over a period of flat profits, missed opportunities, and unwelcome gaffes. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers unspin the PR and get to the bottom of the rolling head.

By Richi Jennings: Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: How Australians advertise skin cleanser...
  
  
Loek Essers and John Ribeiro report:

Symantec said its board...appointed Steve Bennett, the...chairman, to also [be] president and CEO. ... Bennett said "Symantec's assets are strong and yet the company is underperforming."
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Bennett will take three to four months to outline a new strategy...[and] said that he did not expect any disruptions in the business due to the sudden leadership change.      

       
Nick Turner and Kathleen Chaykowski add:

The move wasn’t triggered by a specific event or any impropriety, said Dan Schulman, [a] director. ... Symantec shares had declined 16 percent this year amid...shrinking profit.
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Salem, 46, worked at Symantec for 19 years, the last three as CEO. ... [Bennett] plans to spend up to 120 of his first days...meet[ing] with investors, customers, partners and employees.      

So why's this happened? A pun-tastic Chris Mellor thinks he knows:

[He] got the bullet for failing to conquer the mobile security market...the Backup Exec outrage, and his humdrum financial performance.
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The fact that [the] chairman is taking over indicates that Salem has gone with some haste: there [was] no succession plan...that much is clear.
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Translation: Enrique, we thought long and hard, and...it's time Symantec backed up to another chief exec.
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Salem came across as a grey bureaucrat, hopelessly outgunned in the battle for big ideas. ... Salem also earned the ire of its distribution network by dissing US resellers.      

But Richard Stiennon isn't exactly bullish:

Watch out as reality sets in. I have seen this played out over and over...as grown-up management is brought in. ...because they do not understand the security space the company starts a slow decline into oblivion. ...relying on operational fixes alone will kill Symantec.
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The primary driver in the security industry...is the threatscape which evolves continuously. ... The anti-virus industry is alive and well. ... The only reason that Symantec has for losing market share is the failure to recognize the opportunity.
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Bennett should immediately prepare a sale or spin-out of the the Veritas business. ... [Then an] acquisition spree of the fastest growing security technology companies. ... If Mr. Bennett needs help identifying the best candidates for acquisition, I have a list.      

 
And this "former marketing analyst" pulls no punches:

[Symantec is] overly political with rampant favoritism and cronyism. ... Senior management is all about self promotion. They bring in outside contractors [while] employees are given routine tasks.
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Time to get rid of senior management.      

 
Meanwhile, Dimitris KsD sheds no tears for any AV companies:

The revenue drop probably has something to do with Security Essentials preventing [them] from acting like gangsters.
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...what the AV firms told users...is that the best way is to ditch their free antivirus and buy a paid antivirus. ... So yeah, I hope they lose more revenue.      

      
And Finally...
How Australians advertise skin cleanser (GROSS!)
[hat tip: Andy Dawson]

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He's also the main author of Computerworld's The Long View and IT Blogwatch -- for which he has won ASBPE and Neal awards. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, Richi also publishes a full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.