Thursday, September 24, 2009

520:Whose This CEO

In 1994 _______ joined the Board of Directors of Apple. After his resignation from National Semiconductor _______ became Apple CEO on 2 February 1996, succeeding Michael Spindler. His salary was a reported $990,000 plus bonuses and a $5 million loan. He also received approximately $100,000 for the use of his business jet by Apple the previous year according to the section "Certain Transactions" in the Apple Proxy Statement for 1996._______ cited several problems at Apple including a shortage of cash and liquidity, low quality products, lack of a viable operating system strategy, undisciplined corporate culture, and fragmentation in trying to do too much and in too many directions. To address these problems _______ cut costs, reduced Apple's work force by one third, discontinued the Copland operating system project, and oversaw the development of Mac OS 8.To replace Copland and fulfill the need for a next generation operating system _______ started negotiations to buy BeOS from Be Inc. but negotiations stalled when Be CEO Jean-Louis Gassée demanded $200 million; Apple was unwilling to offer more than $125 million. In November 1996 _______ started discussions with Steve Jobs' NeXT, and bought the company on 4 February 1997 for $429 million. NeXT's operating system became the basis for Mac OS X. _______ later stated he felt he'd overpaid for NeXT.

Ans:Gil Amelio