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Commodore, well Irving Gould, making Medhi Ali CEO. Or even employing the guy at all. IBM selling Thinkpads to Lenovo. Gerald Ratner, CEO of the Ratner Group
by anexprogrammer 10y ago
Commodore, well Irving Gould, making Medhi Ali CEO. Or even employing the guy at all.
IBM selling Thinkpads to Lenovo.
Gerald Ratner, CEO of the Ratner Group, becoming famous for the "Ratner Effect" which destroyed the group and his career. They had 1,000+ stores and multiple brands in UK and US.
He gave a speech to the IoD London in 91 that included "How can you sell this for such a low price?", I say, "because it's total crap."
Obvious and true, but it took £500m off the group share price overnight and a year later, due to a consumer boycott, they were in the process of closing 300+ stores. He was fired by the chairman he recruited in late 92, and the remnants of the group changed name to start rebuilding.
- creshal 10y ago> IBM selling Thinkpads to Lenovo. As much as I dislike the direction Lenovo took with the brand… IBM shed a branch that was turning a massive loss because of IBM's management, and now Lenovo is the second-largest laptop manufacturer in the world and turning massive profits with the brand and the massive amount of spin-off consumer products. I can't imagine IBM being able to do either themselves.
- AstralStorm 10y agoSo it is a double fail for IBM, not just bad decision, but also a badly managed company?
- creshal 10y agoWhy? It was the consumerization of Thinkpads that made them turn a profit, and IBM not wanting to become a consumer brand isn't necessarily bad management. From a financial point of view, it made sense for IBM to get cash from selling it to Lenovo.
- gaius 10y agoSGI boarding the Itanic