CEO Archives -

Google Cloud’s Big Win: the Remarkable 2-Year Journey of CEO Thomas Kurian

November 9, 2020

If Google’s founders have a secret list of “best hires we’ve ever made,” I would surely bet that Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian is near or at the top. (On my weekly Cloud Wars Top 10 rankings, Google Cloud is #4 behind #1 Microsoft, #2 Amazon, and #3 Salesforce.) Before Kurian came aboard in January

Google Cloud Stellar Performance Triggers Special Status from Alphabet

November 6, 2020

While Google Cloud generated only 7.5% of parent-company Alphabet’s $46.2 billion in Q3 revenue, the cloud unit’s surging growth and massive potential have spurred Alphabet to begin breaking out Google Cloud’s financial results in a separate reporting segment. (On my weekly Cloud Wars Top 10 rankings, Google Cloud is #4 after beginning the year at

Will Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos spin out AWS ?

As Amazon’s Cloud Growth Slows, Will Jeff Bezos Cut AWS Loose?

November 4, 2020

While Amazon’s AWS cloud unit has an excellent chance of blowing past $50 billion in revenue in 2021, the surging and superior results from Amazon’s “traditional” businesses might well provide Jeff Bezos with the impetus to spin out the superstar cloud unit next year. (On my weekly Cloud Wars Top 10 rankings, Amazon is #2

SAP: After Brutal Q3, Will it Stumble Again or Bounce Back Boldly?

November 3, 2020

Is SAP’s Q3 nightmare that zapped $35 billion in market-cap value a harbinger of deep troubles, or will the company be able to rally behind the customer-centric vision of CEO Christian Klein and emerge as a true cloud powerhouse? (SAP is #5 on my Cloud Wars Top 10 weekly rankings.) As is so often the

SAP Versus Salesforce: Is Marc Benioff Missing the CX Boom?

October 22, 2020

After two uninterrupted decades of outmaneuvering every competitor and embracing The Customer earlier and more intimately than anyone else, is it possible that Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO and global thought-leader, has been so wedded to CRM that he’s missed the CX revolution? Salesforce #3, SAP #5 on Cloud Wars Top 10 Has Benioff let rival

ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott gets closer to IBM

Market-Cap Madness: ServiceNow Jumps to $100 Billion, IBM Slumps to $104 Billion

October 21, 2020

Just when you started to think 2020 couldn’t get any more bizarre, try this on for size: as of this morning, ServiceNow's market cap had jumped to $100 billion while that of its new AI partner IBM had slumped to $104 billion. The power of positioning Yes, in today’s wacky world, investors have determined that

Why Does IBM Have 4 Huge Zero-Growth Businesses in Today’s Booming Market?

October 20, 2020

In the midst of one of the greatest enterprise-tech markets ever, why does IBM have 4 zero-growth businesses with tenuous or even flimsy connections to its core future strategy of hybrid-cloud platform? (In my weekly Cloud Wars Top 10 rankings, IBM is #7.) Hey—in a way, I get it. We’ve all got that ugly old

Cloud Wars advice to IBM CEO Arvind Krishna ahead of Q3 earnings announcement

IBM Q3 Earnings: 5 Key Issues CEO Arvind Krishna Should Address

October 16, 2020

IBM releases its Q3 financial results on Monday and I’m hoping that CEO Arvind Krishna, who’s been in that top spot for 6-1/2 turbulent months, will use that public forum to clarify some key issues essential to IBM’s future. First, some quick perspective: on my Cloud Wars Top 10 weekly rankings, IBM is #7. And

An Open Letter to IBM CEO Arvind Krishna: Keep Swinging that Axe!

October 9, 2020

Dear Arvind: I was delighted to see the news about your decision to cut loose IBM’s managed-services infrastructure business so it can become a separate company. And I’m hoping that with your bold move, you’re just getting started in turning IBM into a customer-centric AI and data powerhouse unencumbered with moribund businesses that drain resources,

Bill McDermott and ServiceNow making big market cap moves

Market-Cap Madness: ServiceNow at $90 Billion Halfway to Oracle and SAP at $180 Billion

September 28, 2020

While Oracle’s revenue is about 10 times larger than ServiceNow’s and SAP’s is about 8 times larger, ServiceNow’s $90-billion market cap is now about exactly half of that of those two world-class enterprise-software companies. Market capitalizations are those big numbers that not only show us where a company is today but also indicate where some

Tag: CEO