Western Digital Names New CFO, Boosts Guidance

Western Digital Corp. named a new chief financial officer and increased its earnings guidance for the latest quarter.

Olivier Leonetti, CFO of the disk-drive maker since September 2014, will leave to pursue other opportunities. Mark Long will become financial chief on Sept. 1, while remaining chief strategy officer. Mr. Leonetti will continue in an advisory role through Oct. 1.

Western Digital also said it expects earnings excluding items of 72 cents a share for its fourth quarter ended July 1, compared with prior guidance of 65 cents to 70 cents. It projects revenue of $3.46 billion, up from a previous view of $3.35 billion to $3.45 billion.

The company's shares rose 3.1% in after-hours trading to $46.85.

Western Digital bought SanDisk in May, a big move into flash-storage technology as disk-drive sales have been hurt by an aging PC market. The cash-and-stock deal was worth about $19 billion when announced in October.

In its April 1 quarter, Western Digital reported lower earnings and a revenue decline of 21%, to $2.82 billion.

Fellow disk-drive maker Seagate Technology PLC said last week that it would cut about 1,600 jobs, or about 3% of its workforce.

Mr. Long was with Hitachi GST when it was purchased by Western Digital in 2012. Before joining Western Digital, Mr. Leonetti was a vice president at Amgen Inc.

Write to Josh Beckerman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 06, 2016 17:35 ET (21:35 GMT)

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