NetApp CEO Tom Georgens to Depart -- Update

By Don Clark And Josh Beckerman 

NetApp Inc. said Tom Georgens is stepping down as chairman and chief executive, less than two weeks after the data-storage company said it would lay off 500 workers and issued a disappointing financial forecast.

George Kurian was promoted to chief executive, NetApp said, although the company also intends to conduct a CEO search. Mr. Kurian, a former vice president at Cisco Systems Inc., joined NetApp in 2011 and has been NetApp's executive vice president of product operations.

The company said Mike Nevens, who has been serving as lead independent director, would become chairman.

NetApp said last month its profit for the latest quarter fell 32%. The company also gave a forecast for the current period that badly missed Wall Street estimates.

The company sells data-storage hardware in competition with EMC Corp. and others. It has been hurt by businesses shifting to purchases of cloud-based storage instead of buying and operating their own hardware. NetApp has also struggled to manage the impact of a major rewrite of the operating system that runs on its storage hardware.

Mr. Kurian, 48 years old, said he would work on improving the efficiency of the company's operations rather than shift its product-development plans. "The board believes that the strategy of the company is right, but new leadership will accelerate the opportunity," he said in an interview.

Mr. Georgens joined NetApp in 2005 and became CEO in 2009.

Write to Don Clark at [e-mail] and Josh Beckerman at [e-mail]

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