Dell Said to Hire Former HP Executive Haas for Enterprise Unit
Dell Inc. (DELL) hired Marius Haas, a KKR & Co. adviser and former executive at Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), to run its enterprise-computing group, replacing president Brad Anderson, a person briefed on the matter said.
The move was announced to senior executives at Round Rock, Texas-based Dell today, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter hasn’t been disclosed publicly. Haas, who joined private equity firm KKR last year, had spent a decade at Hewlett-Packard running the computer-networking group and scouting for acquisitions.
Dell has been trying to recruit executives to help expand beyond its roots as a maker of low-margin personal computers into a supplier of software, data center equipment and technology services for businesses. The turnaround effort has been uneven, and fiscal second-quarter results scheduled for later today will show falling sales and a third consecutive decline in profit excluding certain costs, according to the average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg.
Anderson, who is departing, had oversight of engineering, design, development and marketing of such business-focused products as servers, storage gear and networking equipment. While those are performing better than the consumer division, they too are under pressure amid rising competition and demand that’s been crimped by global economic malaise. Sales to large businesses declined 3 percent in the first quarter.
Haas Background
Haas spent a decade at Hewlett-Packard, most recently as a senior vice president in charge of corporate development and enterprise computing products at a time when the company was expanding in networking to challenge Cisco Systems Inc. He departed last year to join KKR as an industry adviser in Silicon Valley working on technology deals.
He had previously worked at Compaq Computer, which Hewlett- Packard bought in 2002.
Haas didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment. David Frink, a spokesman for Dell, declined to comment.
Dell earlier this year hired John Swainson, former CEO of CA Inc., to expand its software group.
Technology blog AllThingsD previously reported that Dell was in talks to hire Haas.
To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Ricadela in San Francisco at aricadela@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
Dell Said to Hire Former HP Executive Haas for Enterprise Unit
Qilai Shen/Bloomberg News
Brad Anderson, who is departing, had oversight of engineering, design, development and marketing of such business-focused products as servers, storage gear and networking equipment.
Brad Anderson, who is departing, had oversight of engineering, design, development and marketing of such business-focused products as servers, storage gear and networking equipment. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg News
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