HPE chief Neri: I've got COVID-19 and am staying home for the next fortnight
(2020/06/18)
- Reference: 1592488209
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/06/18/hpe_ceo_antonio_neri_coronavirus_positive/
- Source link:
The chief exec of Hewlett Packard Enterprise has tested positive for coronavirus, he revealed today – adding to the firm's [1]recent list of woes .
Antonio Neri said in a statement posted to [2]LinkedIn in the early hours of this morning: "Yesterday I tested positive for COVID-19. The good news is, I feel much better already and plan to proceed with business as usual while I quarantine from home."
A company spokeswoman echoed Neri's words, saying that the CEO would be "following self-quarantine protocols for the next 14 days."
Neri's sickness and confinement does not come at a good time for HPE: its Q2 FY2020 results
HPE's Black Thursday: Staff face pay cuts or the ax, office closures to save $1bn+ after coronavirus slams IT titan [4]READ MORE
Staff headcount reductions are also high on the agenda, with a mixture of job cuts, unpaid leave and a freeze on promotions and payrises in the pipeline, as we reported.
On top of these issues, key execs have departed HPE over the past couple of months. Phil Davis, one-time global sales chief and widely regarded as HPE's second-in-command, [5]quit abruptly in April to head up AWS' APAC operations , drawing on his HPE experience as president of hybrid IT. Chief techie Mark Potter [6]will retire this summer , according to Neri; Potter's predecessor's retirement lasted as long as it took for Western Digital's headhunters to [7]knock on his door .
Meanwhile, the company wants to [8]make all of its products available as-a-serivce , having decided that the future doesn't involve trying to compete in [9]public cloud or [10]enterprise services .
Neri is one of millions to have fallen ill with the COVID-19 coronavirus, a number that includes a handful of tech executives. Back in March, for example, right as the virus was getting into full swing in the UK, BT chief exec Philip Jansen [11]tested positive and went into self-isolation – not long after meeting the heads of Britain's other major telcos.
HPE's Discover conference will go ahead as a webinar series next week, said Neri.
El Reg wishes him and anyone infected by the disease a speedy recovery. ®
Sponsored: [12]Modernizing Your .NET Application for Google Cloud Platform
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/22/hpe_q2_2020/
[2] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6679166321848135680/
[3] https://investors.hpe.com/~/media/Files/H/HP-Enterprise-IR/documents/q2-2020/q2-2020-earnings-press-release.pdf
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/22/hpe_q2_2020/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/05/phil_davis_aws/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/13/hpe_executive_reshuffle/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2017/01/23/western_digital_hires_a_cto_fink/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2019/06/18/hpe_greenlake_by_2022/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2015/10/21/hps_public_cloud_gets_eol_date/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2016/05/25/hpe_spins_out_enterprise_services_business_into_csc/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/13/bt_boss_philip_jansen_coronavirus/
[12] https://go.theregister.com/tl/1956/-8473/modernizing-your-net-application-for-google-cloud-platform?td=wptl1956
Antonio Neri said in a statement posted to [2]LinkedIn in the early hours of this morning: "Yesterday I tested positive for COVID-19. The good news is, I feel much better already and plan to proceed with business as usual while I quarantine from home."
A company spokeswoman echoed Neri's words, saying that the CEO would be "following self-quarantine protocols for the next 14 days."
Neri's sickness and confinement does not come at a good time for HPE: its Q2 FY2020 results
[3]PDF
revealed a 16 per cent year-on-year decline in revenues, falling short of analysts' expectations by $300m, with sales down across all major segments. The firm reported a net loss of $821m in the quarter, prompting an across-the-board cost-cutting exercise that will see Neri himself and his senior lieutenants taking a 25 per cent base salary cut for the rest of the fiscal year.HPE's Black Thursday: Staff face pay cuts or the ax, office closures to save $1bn+ after coronavirus slams IT titan [4]READ MORE
Staff headcount reductions are also high on the agenda, with a mixture of job cuts, unpaid leave and a freeze on promotions and payrises in the pipeline, as we reported.
On top of these issues, key execs have departed HPE over the past couple of months. Phil Davis, one-time global sales chief and widely regarded as HPE's second-in-command, [5]quit abruptly in April to head up AWS' APAC operations , drawing on his HPE experience as president of hybrid IT. Chief techie Mark Potter [6]will retire this summer , according to Neri; Potter's predecessor's retirement lasted as long as it took for Western Digital's headhunters to [7]knock on his door .
Meanwhile, the company wants to [8]make all of its products available as-a-serivce , having decided that the future doesn't involve trying to compete in [9]public cloud or [10]enterprise services .
Neri is one of millions to have fallen ill with the COVID-19 coronavirus, a number that includes a handful of tech executives. Back in March, for example, right as the virus was getting into full swing in the UK, BT chief exec Philip Jansen [11]tested positive and went into self-isolation – not long after meeting the heads of Britain's other major telcos.
HPE's Discover conference will go ahead as a webinar series next week, said Neri.
El Reg wishes him and anyone infected by the disease a speedy recovery. ®
Sponsored: [12]Modernizing Your .NET Application for Google Cloud Platform
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/22/hpe_q2_2020/
[2] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6679166321848135680/
[3] https://investors.hpe.com/~/media/Files/H/HP-Enterprise-IR/documents/q2-2020/q2-2020-earnings-press-release.pdf
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/22/hpe_q2_2020/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/05/phil_davis_aws/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/13/hpe_executive_reshuffle/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2017/01/23/western_digital_hires_a_cto_fink/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2019/06/18/hpe_greenlake_by_2022/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2015/10/21/hps_public_cloud_gets_eol_date/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2016/05/25/hpe_spins_out_enterprise_services_business_into_csc/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/13/bt_boss_philip_jansen_coronavirus/
[12] https://go.theregister.com/tl/1956/-8473/modernizing-your-net-application-for-google-cloud-platform?td=wptl1956