Died, former IBM CEO John Akers
IBM today announced the death of the sixth CEO John Akers, in charge of bringing to market the first PC brand IBM. He was 79 years old. In a statement, IBM said that Akers died August 22 in Boston. The cause of death was a stroke. John Akers joined the United States Air Force from IBM in 1960 and worked at the corporation for 33 years. He became CEO of the company and remained so for eight years, after which he was replaced by Louis Gerstner - the first in the history of IBM «external» CEO.
Then IBM was in the statement was the need for dramatic change of course. Initially career Akers was an adviser to Frank Carey, the then CEO IBM. He also headed the division of the data, and the general director of IBM, he became in 1985. One of his deputies was Sam Palmisano - penultimate CEO IBM. In a statement, IBM said that Akers has helped the company to develop business and mainframe computers, making IBM the dominant player in this market.
He was instrumental in promoting the platform IBM System / 360 and all subsequent ones. At the time of appointment of the Director General of Gerstner, IBM was a total loss record at the time of $ 7.83 billion. The new CEO has completely changed management, cut thousands of jobs and spent the savings program $ 7 billion. By 2002, the price of IBM stock has increased by 900%. An official statement regarding the death of IBM, John Akers said that he "loved IBM and always cared about employees."
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