The board of directors of IBM has named Arvind Krishna as the company's new Chief Executive Officer, effective April 6, 2020 as the pioneer tech company continues its push to revive itself.
Krishna is currently the head of IBM's Cloud and Cognitive operating system division and was among brains of the company's $34-billion buyout of open-source software provider Red Hat in 2019 - the biggest acquisition in the company's 108-year history.
IBM was a late entrant to the Cloud services business, a segment that is currently dominated by Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com, and Virginia "Ginni" Rometty, a 40-year IBM stalwart and one of the most prominent women in American business, bet on acquisitions to narrow the gap.
The 62-year old Rometty will continue her role as executive chairman and finish her term until the end of the year, when she will step down after nearly four decades with the company, IBM disclosed in a statement Thursday.
James Whitehurst, IBM Senior Vice President and chief executive officer of Red Hat, was also named by the Board as IBM President, effective April 6, 2020. Krishna was also elected as IBM board member.
Rometty exits on a recent high note, days after the tech giant posted its first sales rally in six quarters, but stocks have shed around 75 percent in value since she took charge, and the efforts she made remains a work in progress. IBM's shares climbed around 5 percent in after-hours trading, Thursday.
According to Rometty, Krishna is the right CEO for the next era at the company and a "brilliant technologist" who has played a crucial part in developing IBM's key technologies.
IBM will likely continue on it pursuits with Krishna at the helm, but may aim for more small acquisitions in the analytics space, Tim Hubbard, former IBM adviser and assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, said.
Under the leadership of Rometty, IBM was able to acquire 65 companies, boosted capabilities in security, data, and artificial intelligence, and successfully made one of the high-profile tech acquisitions of all time.
Rometty reshaped more than half of IBM's assets, established a $21 billion Cloud business and established IBM's influence in quantum computing, while divesting almost $9 billion in annual sales to focus the portfolio on IBM's high-value, integrated offerings.
Still, unlike most prominent tech firms, IBM is smaller than it was when Rometty was CEO. The company ended that period with a market capitalization of over $200 billion and revenue of more than $100 billion.
