After eight years at the top: IBM boss Rometty resigns

More than eight years ago, she became the first woman in the history of IBM to take the lead. Now Ginni Rometty has announced her retirement and is retiring. A successor has already been determined.

IBM boss Ginni Rometty steps down after eight years at the top of the US computer and software company. The 62-year-old will resign from her position as CEO in April, the company said.

The successor will be Arvind Krishna, who has been responsible for cloud computing and artificial intelligence at IBM.

Rometty, who had shaped an era at IBM, will remain in the company until the end of the year. From April onwards, she will have the title of Managing Director General. After she left IBM, she says she will retire.

First woman to lead IBM

Your farewell marks the end of an era. Rometty has worked for IBM for almost 40 years, eight years ago she became the first woman in the company’s more than 100-year history. Previously, Rometty was responsible for IBM’s sales and marketing division.

Cloud technology focus

Rometty had profoundly reshaped IBM through the purchase of more than 65 other companies and internal restructuring. The focus was on cloud computing – i.e. data storage on the Internet – and artificial intelligence. However, under her leadership, IBM had to contend with falling sales.

To catch up to the competition, IBM announced in a daring step in 2018 the purchase of the North Carolina-based software company Red Hat for $ 34 billion. It was the largest purchase in IBM’s history. The future boss Krishna was considered the architect of the deal.

Investors react positively to a change of boss

Investors reacted positively to the announcement of the change of boss, the stock turned positive after the exchange and initially rose by around four percent. IBM announced last week that it had achieved its first small sales increase in six quarters in the fourth quarter.

The group has had a difficult time on Wall Street for a long time, despite the boom in the US stock market, the share has barely posted a price gain in the past twelve months.

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