Every age, it seems, must have its Nero.
The indifferent figure callously fiddling while Rome is burning all around him.
We see one such Nero-esque figure in the ponytailed Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of the struggling IT company Sun Microsystems.
Sun’s fortunes have taken a massive beating after the dot com bust. Wave after wave of layoffs has roiled the company, revenues have fallen, profits have collapsed and the share price has sunk deep into the sewer.
And our ponytailed Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, protege of former CEO Scott McNealy, is blogging - yes, wasting his highly paid CEO time blogging - as the Sun ship slowly sinks into a quagmire.
Sun’s stock is now trading near its 52-week low. And Ponytail is blogging.
Sun’s server revenues are declining (for Q4, 2007, according to IDC). And Ponytail keeps blogging.
Sun posts a loss. And Ponytail keeps blogging.
Sun to fire another 2,500. And Ponytail keeps blogging.
IBM continues to do a great job. And Ponytail keeps blogging.
Schwartz may not be the best person to lead Sun but he knows only too well that there will be criticism of the time he’s wasting on a blog when there are more pressing concerns like for instance facing up to the competition from IBM and HP or getting rid of the deadwood at the company.
So in his latest blog post on the company’s pathetic fiscal third quarter results, our ponytailed CEO Schwartz included the below question (perhaps a repeat):
“Why does Sun’s CEO waste time writing that blog?”
Because I believe in providing clarity surrounding our strategy and operations - not just once a year in the Annual Report. I believe clarity behind our direction is useful for our shareholders, customers, partners and employees.In good times, and in challenging ones.
I believe in providing clarity surrounding our strategy and operations
What rubbish. Sun’s results and repeated layoffs amply demonstrate that clarity is the one thing this company has not had in years. Are our results bad - well, march a few thousand employees into the courtyard and shoot em. Seems like this is all the strategy Sun has.
Like CEO, like Underlings
If you thought Schwartz was the only clueless Nero at Sun, you are so wrong.
Sun is a company that is still home to many fatuous Neros. Even after more than 10,000 employees have been thrown off the cliff, there’s still deadwood at Sun who drain company resources. We say, throw them all under the train. Quickly.
Scott McNealy used to say - eat lunch or be lunch. Guess what - IBM, HP and MSFT are now gorging on the Sun carcass.
Bail out of Sun before it becomes a penny stock.
[trash talk]
Why didn’t decline as you posted?
Sun was up 1.9%.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Learn to read, you idiot. IDC says Sun server revenues fell 2.4%
————–
Overall Server Market Standings, by Vendor
IBM held onto its number 1 spot in the worldwide server systems market with 36.7% market share in factory revenue for 4Q07, growing factory revenue by 0.5% year over year. This growth was driven by solid performance from its System x and System p servers. HP maintained the number 2 spot with 27.7% share for the quarter, growing revenue 6.3% compared to 4Q06. HP’s growth stemmed from strong ProLiant and Integrity server performance. Dell and Sun ended the quarter in a statistical tie for third place with factory revenue market share of 10.1% and 9.3% respectively. Dell experienced 6.8% revenue growth compared with 4Q06, while Sun experienced a year-over-year revenue decline of 2.4% in 4Q07. Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens, experienced a 7.1% increase in factory revenue holding 4.3% revenue share in 4Q07.
Source: IDC
————-
Do you have anything at all between your ears?
[Trash Talk]
SearchIndia.com Responds:
What a dodo you are. You can’t read straight, you can’t write straight, you can’t understand straight. Think of the damage a nincompoop like you must be causing at your workplace!
All you are capable of is engaging in trash talk. Does Medicaid cover therapy?
[trash talk]
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Accept the reality - Sun servers are losing market share and Sun is in its sunset years.
Sun and its employees are just not good enough. More than 10,000 employees have been fired since the dot com bust. And another 2,500 are on the way out now.
As all smart readers of the SearchIndia.com blog know, idiots like you who can’t refute an argument stoop down to trash talk.
By the way, does Medicaid covers rabies?
[trash talk]
…all I am going to post is trash talk from now on.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Have you done anything different before?
For folks like you who can’t make logical arguments, the only choice is to engage in trash talk.
Get the facts right, dickhead.
IDC clearly said that Sun server revenues had declined in Q4 of 2007. How can you blabber (see above) that Sun server revenues grew 1.9% in Q4 of 2007? Read below for the correct facts:
——–
Overall Server Market Standings, by Vendor
IBM held onto its number 1 spot in the worldwide server systems market with 36.7% market share in factory revenue for 4Q07, growing factory revenue by 0.5% year over year. This growth was driven by solid performance from its System x and System p servers. HP maintained the number 2 spot with 27.7% share for the quarter, growing revenue 6.3% compared to 4Q06. HP’s growth stemmed from strong ProLiant and Integrity server performance. Dell and Sun ended the quarter in a statistical tie for third place with factory revenue market share of 10.1% and 9.3% respectively. Dell experienced 6.8% revenue growth compared with 4Q06, while Sun experienced a year-over-year revenue decline of 2.4% in 4Q07. Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens, experienced a 7.1% increase in factory revenue holding 4.3% revenue share in 4Q07.
Source: IDC
Bottomline
IBM grew server revenues.
HP grew server revenues.
Dell grew server revenues.
But Sun server revenues fell 2.4% in Q4 2007.
Comprende? That shouldn’t be very difficult to understand even for a dickhead like you.