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Dell Loses Senior Executive

flickr.com/dellphotos

Until yesterday, Dave Johnson was a part of computer company Dell’s strategy to turn the once-dominant company around. But Dell declared yesterday that Johnson is ditching the tech industry altogether to take a senior position with an investment company.

In 2009 Johnson jumped ship from IBM to Dell as senior vice president for corporate strategy. The company’s intention was to catapult from personal computers into the tech service market, alongside giants like IBM and Hewlett-Packard. 

Mergers and acquisitions were a big part of that strategy: At the company’s Dell World conference in Austin last month, the company announced it had spent more than $12.7 billion in acquisitions under Johnson’s oversight.

Dell has faced an uphill battle competing with Apple and Google in the hardware and software markets. Amid rolling layoffs, the company’s stock has fallen 30 percent over this last year. Several layoffs were announced last fall, including losses at Dell's Round Rock campus

Dell spokesperson Jess Blackburn believes that Johnson has been an integral part to the company’s redefinition and hints that they will continue to use his strategies. “He leaves a strong and sustainable organization behind, one that will continue to execute our strategy and pursue our aggressive [merger and acquisition] activities” Blackburn says.

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