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Fusion-io's founding CEO quits board

Flynn flies off

David Flynn, Fusion-io's founding and ousted CEO has flown the boardroom coop, as revealed in an SEC filing (PDF). Flynn follows cofounder and ex-CMO Rick White out the door.

Flynn had been replaced as CEO by ex-HP executive Shane Robison in an effective boardroom coup. Robison has made some exec-level changes and canned some of Flynn's research and development products, as well as setting the company's strategy firmly toward profitable growth, as he sees it, and away from a start-up style of operating.

Both Flynn and White were going to stick around for twelve months as advisors – and, no doubt, as a show of solidarity to reassure investors. That has now fallen by the wayside. Advising Robison is not something Flynn wants to do – and who can blame him for not relishing the idea of helping the man whom some would say orchestrated his resignation?

Stifel analyst Aaron Rakers sent a note to clients with the news, and said the company stated that Flynn's resignation had nothing to do with financial statements or accounting policies and practices. Flynn and White are still regarded as advisors by Fusion-io, but Rakers doubts this will be effective in practice without the board seats and board-meeting infrastructure. It smacks of window dressing in the view of El Reg's storage desk.

Both Flynn and White own Fusion-io shares, around 4 million and 2.7 million respectively, and will be able to sell them at some stage.

"We understand now that there were problems between Mr. Flynn and Mr. White and the board led by Mr. Robison," Rakers notes, "It does not give us any more information to evaluate Mr. Robison's new strategic direction." ®

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