Symantec CEO Greg Clark resigned amid sales drop

Antivirus software maker Symantec announced the resignation of its chief executive officer Greg Clark — amid indication of further drop in sales.
Symantec security solutionsSymantec has named director Richard Hill as the new CEO on an interim basis. Richard Hill was formerly CEO of semiconductor maker Novellus Systems, giving him experience in enterprise sales, an area where Symantec has faltered.

Symantec did not consider Art Gilliland and Samir Kapuria, who are currently heading Symantec’s Enterprise and Consumer organizations, for the CEO position.

Greg Clark has served as the CEO since Symantec’s acquisition of Blue Coat in 2016. The cybersecurity solutions company will commence a search process to find a permanent CEO, the company said on Thursday.

“Greg Clark had issues with his father being ill. The pressure is quite high that we want to continue to deliver strong financial results and also growth on the top line for shareholders, simultaneously,” Richard Hill said during a call after the earnings announcement.

Symantec has lost its chief operating officer and the chief marketing officer late last year and chief financial officer early this year, Reuters reported.

Symantec also named Vincent Pilette, formerly with Logitech, as its new chief financial officer, replacing Nicholas Noviello whose departure was announced in January.

Vincent Pilette was the VP of Finance for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s server, storage and networking business.

Symantec revenue

Symantec reported fiscal fourth-quarter sales of $1.19 billion, down from $1.21 billion a year ago. The company posted net income of $34 million, or 5 cents per share, in the reported quarter, compared with a loss of $59 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier.

Symantec posted revenue of $4.762 billion in fiscal 2019 as compared with $4.960 billion in fiscal 2018.

Revenue from Symantec’s enterprise security division fell to $584 million from $597 million. Symantec’s consumer security division’s revenue dropped to $605 million from $613 million.

Symantec is expecting revenue of $1.171 billion – $1.201 billion in Q1 fiscal 2019-20 and $4.750 billion – $4.890 billion in full fiscal 2019-20. The software company said it expects first-quarter profit between 30 cents and 34 cents per share.

Enterprise Security revenue dropped due to lower than expected bookings, which led to year-over-year decline in billings.

The company’s Enterprise Security business will focus on operational discipline, increasing sales productivity, expanding operating margins and managing the shift to its ratable cloud delivered solutions.

Symantec said Consumer Cyber Safety business will execute on multiple initiatives to drive revenue growth.

Rajani Baburajan

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