Rackable drives out EVP Ford

Binge and purge

By Ashlee Vance in Mountain View • Get more from this author

Posted in Servers, 29th May 2007 18:03 GMT

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The old guard executive purge at Rackable continues at pace.

The server maker last week fired EVP Todd Ford, according to a regulatory filing. Ford served in a variety of roles at Rackable since 2002, including President and CFO. His tenure was tied to that of former CEO Tom Barton, who left the company last month.

Over the last couple of months, Rackable had said that Ford would leave the company at the end of the year. It seems his departure was accelerated by new CEO Mark Barrenechea. For his efforts, Ford will take home his full $350,000 salary, 12 months of health insurance and an accelerated stock option plan.

Rackable remains a company in turmoil, having watched its share price drop from over $40 per share down to $11.77 at the time of this report. Our sources contend that Rackable passed on a lucrative acquisition offer from Dell, which served as the trigger for the management shuffle.

The company makes most of its sales to Microsoft, Yahoo! and Amazon. Rivals have seized on this strength and turned it into a weakness by trying to undercut Rackable's margins to these customers. ®

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