Palm CEO Carl Yankowski Has Resigned

Palm's Chief Executive Officer Carl Yankowski has resigned. Eric Benhamou, Palm chairman of the board, will serve in his place until a permanent successor is named.

"With Palm's transition into two individual businesses almost complete, my role has changed, and it no longer matches my aspirations," Mr. Yankowski said. "I leave confident that our separation and solutions strategies, combined with the new leadership at the helm of both businesses, will result in increased shareholder value. It has been an honor to lead Palm."

Mr. Yankowski did not announce his future plans.

Mr. Yankowski

A search has begun for a new CEO. Mr. Benhamou will chair an Executive Council that will help him lead the company until a new CEO is named. The council is made up of David Nagel, Platform Solutions Group chief executive officer; Todd Bradley, Palm executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Solutions Group; and Judy Bruner, Palm senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Update: Mr. Benhamou told Cnet that they will be looking for someone with more of a hardware focus, as the OS division will be spun off soon.

Mr. Yankowski's resignation follows the toughest year in Palm's history. The pre-announcement of the m500 series last spring cut demand for the V series and hurt their bottom line. At the same time, agreements made earlier to purchase large amounts of components came back to haunt them as demand slowed along with the worsening economy. Both of these left the company will millions of dollars in unsellable inventory that had to be written off.

For the most part, Wall Street has lost faith in the company. The high point for the stock in the last year was $65.75. It closed today at $2.28.

Many people have blamed Mr. Yankowski for Palm's woes and his leaving the company will be viewed as a positive move to these people. The company has been showing signs of turning around, even before this. Palm's revenues were 30% higher last quarter than in the previous one.

In his resignation, Mr. Yankowski referred to Palm's plan to split itself into hardware and software portions, which should be complete by the end of this year.

Related Information:

• PIC: Yankowski Admits Mistakes to Shareholders
• PIC: Palm Beats Analysts' Expectations, Revenues Up 30%
• PIC: Palm to Create Subsidiary for OS Business

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