[email protected] (Bill Johnson) writes: > If they are embracing x86 servers it seems to be a bad move. Isn't IBM > trying to sell their x86 business? (to Lenovo) Mainly because the > sales are dropping.
all hardware sales ... and x86 has the lowest profit margin, however I.B.M., Missing Estimates, Falters as Slow Hardware Sales Hurt Revenue and Profits www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/technology/ibm-shares-fall-after-earnings-miss-estimates.html Lenovo, IBM Talks on Server Deal Said to Break Down http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-02/lenovo-ibm-talks-on-server-deal-said-to-break-down.html IBM was looking to divest a portion of its business with lower profit as it seeks earnings per share of $20 by 2015, compared with $15.25 last year. The company has had trouble selling its hardware products, with a 17 percent drop in the unit's revenue last quarter. ... snip ... Stockman in "The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America" ... talks about stock buybacks are a mini-form of LBO, with the executives reaping huge rewards, pg457/loc9844-46: The leader was ExxonMobil, which repurchased $160 billion of its own shares during 2004-2011. It was followed by Microsoft at $100 billion, IBM at $75 billion, and Hewlett-Packard, Proctor & Gamble, and Cisco with $50 billion each. Even the floundering shipwreck of merger mania known as Time Warner Inc. bought back $25 billion. ... snip ... goes into lots of detail about executives managing their bonuses tied to stock price via stock buybacks (reduces number of shares so earnings/share goes up). a little more from stockman, just a little on IBM last decade or so, pg464/loc9995-10000: IBM was not the born-again growth machine trumpeted by the mob of Wall Street momo traders. It was actually a stock buyback contraption on steroids. During the five years ending in fiscal 2011, the company spent a staggering $67 billion repurchasing its own shares, a figure that was equal to 100 percent of its net income. pg465/10014-17: Total shareholder distributions, including dividends, amounted to $82 billion, or 122 percent, of net income over this five-year period. Likewise, during the last five years IBM spent less on capital investment than its depreciation and amortization charges, and also shrank its constant dollar spending for research and development by nearly 2 percent annually. ... snip ... my biggest quibble with stockman is that he glosses over the rating agencies selling triple-A ratings on toxic CDOs (when they knew they weren't worth triple-A, from congressional Oct2008 hearings). Those triple-A ratings significantly enabled the over $27T done during the bubble ... and that $27T significantly dwarfs many of the other issues he cites. reference to over $27T http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&refer=home&sid=a0jln3.CSS6c issue is that recently x86 makers have said that they are shipping more x86 server chips to the cloud operators ... than are going to brand name server vendors (Dell, HP, IBM, etc) ... it isn't that x86 servers are declining ... the numbers are exploding ... but it is declining market for the brand name vendors. some recent posts mentioning z196 compared to e5-2600 blade (x86 server, staple of large cloud operators). http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013.html#10 From build to buy: American Airlines changes modernization course midflight http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013.html#16 From build to buy: American Airlines changes modernization course midflight http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013.html#17 Still think the mainframe is going away soon: Think again. IBM mainframe computer sales are 4% of IBM's revenue; with software, services, and storage it's 25% http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013b.html#5 mainframe "selling" points http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013b.html#6 mainframe "selling" points http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013b.html#7 mainframe "selling" points http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013b.html#8 mainframe "selling" points http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013b.html#10 FW: mainframe "selling" points -- Start up Costs http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013b.html#15 A Private life? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013c.html#59 Why Intel can't retire X86 http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013c.html#60 Why Intel can't retire X86 http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013c.html#63 What Makes an Architecture Bizarre? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013c.html#68 relative mainframe speeds, was What Makes an Architecture Bizarre? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013c.html#84 What Makes an Architecture Bizarre? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013d.html#5 What Makes an Architecture Bizarre? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013d.html#16 relative mainframe speeds, was What Makes an Architecture Bizarre? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013e.html#4 Oracle To IBM: Your 'Customers Are Being Wildly Overcharged' http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#35 Reports: IBM may sell x86 server business to Lenovo http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#37 Where Does the Cloud Cover the Mainframe? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#38 Reports: IBM may sell x86 server business to Lenovo http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#51 Reports: IBM may sell x86 server business to Lenovo http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#57 The cloud is killing traditional hardware and software http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#64 What Makes an Architecture Bizarre? http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#70 How internet can evolve http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#72 The cloud is killing traditional hardware and software http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#73 The cloud is killing traditional hardware and software http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#74 The cloud is killing traditional hardware and software http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013g.html#2 A Complete History Of Mainframe Computing -- virtualization experience starting Jan1968, online at home since Mar1970 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
