The world of high-tech companies is home to larger-than-life personalities.Entrepreneurial executives like Bill Gates, frequently the world's richest man, Steve Jobs, one of the few businessmen to become a cult hero, and Craig Newmark, a populist who refuses to maximize the value of his Craigslist, have all changed the world to one degree or another.
Leaders one year are sometimes goners the next, while other onetime heroes face indictment or exile. How well do you know the leaders of high tech?
1) What high-tech veteran left his operating role recently?
A. Bill Gates, chief software architect, Microsoft Corp.
B. Sam Palmisano, CEO, International Business Machines Corp.
C. Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle Corp.
D. John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems Inc.
ANSWER: A. In June, Mr. Gates ended his daily operating role at the company he started, although he remains chairman of the board. He stepped down as chief executive in 2000, but he has remained prominent in helping shape the software giant's technical direction. The 52-year-old Mr. Gates plans to concentrate on his philanthropic endeavors.
2) What activist investor who has profited by taking big stakes in companies and pushing corporate change is struggling with some high-tech bets?
A. Warren Buffett
B. Carl Icahn
C. T. Boone Pickens
D. Henry Kravis
ANSWER: B. Mr. Icahn acquired stakes in Yahoo Inc. and Motorola Inc., among others, and has pushed for strategic change to boost the value of the companies. His 5% stake in Yahoo, acquired this year with the goal of forcing it to sell out to Microsoft, has resulted in his election to the board. But the stock price languishes below his cost of $25 a share. Mr. Icahn invested $2 billion in Motorola and joined its board earlier this year. It has agreed to split the company in two, a move he advocated. But Motorola stock remains well below his cost of up to $18.53 a share.
3) Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist Inc., and Jim Buckmaster, its chief executive, were sued by which online company that is both a rival and a partial owner of the largely free online classified-ad service?
A. Google Inc.
B. eBay Inc.
C. Yahoo Inc.
D. Amazon.com Inc.
ANSWER: B. EBay acquired a minority stake in Craigslist in 2004. But in April, eBay said in a suit in Delaware's Court of Chancery that the Craigslist leaders have tried to dilute its stake. In a countersuit in California, Craigslist charged that eBay unfairly interfered with its business when eBay started a rival classified-ad service called Kijiji last year.
4) Pick the party affiliation of these high-tech luminaries who are supporting campaigns this year or plotting runs for 2010.
A. Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO, Hewlett-Packard Co.
B. Rob Glaser, CEO, RealNetworks Inc.
C. Mitch Kapor, founder, Lotus Development Corp.
D. Steve Poizner, ex-CEO, SnapTrack Inc.
E. John Thompson, CEO, Symantec Corp.
F. Meg Whitman, ex-CEO, eBay Inc.
ANSWER: A, D and F are Republicans. Ms. Fiorina has been advising Sen. John McCain in his presidential campaign. Ms. Whitman, a McCain fund-raiser, reportedly is considering running for governor of California in 2010. If she does, she's likely to face the state insurance commissioner, Mr. Poizner, who reportedly made nearly $1 billion when he sold SnapTrack, a company that developed GPS tracking technology, to Qualcomm Inc. in 2000. B, C and E are Democrats. Mr. Glaser posted an effusive video blog from a Barack Obama rally in February. Mr. Thompson hosted a Silicon Valley fund-raiser for Sen. Obama. Mr. Kapor has praised Sen. Obama's plans to appoint a chief technology officer for the government and reform the patent system.
5) What high-tech company CEO was briefly strengthened last month by an electoral miscount?
A. John Swainson, CA Inc.
B. Joe Tucci, EMC Corp.
C. Jerry Yang, Yahoo Inc.
D. Antonio Perez, Eastman Kodak Co.
ANSWER: C. Mr. Yang was initially reported to have received 85% of the votes cast at Yahoo's annual meeting in his bid for re-election to the company's board. But, after questioning by major institutional investors, Yahoo investigated and discovered that one investor's vote withholding support hadn't been tabulated because of a glitch by vote processor Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. When the votes were recounted, it turned out Mr. Yang was re-elected with just 66% of the votes cast. The muted endorsement could serve as ammunition for critics who seek strategic changes at the Sunnyvale, Calif., company.
6) Which of these high-tech chief executives from The Wall Street Journal's 2007 "Women to Watch" list hasn't lost her leadership post?
A. Anne Mulcahy, Xerox Corp.
B. Meg Whitman, eBay Inc.
C. Patricia Russo, Alcatel-Lucent SA
D. Diane Greene, VMware Inc.
ANSWER: A. Ms. Mulcahy remains on the job. Ms. Whitman retired in March to pursue other interests. Ms. Russo was replaced as chief executive at the beginning of September. And Ms. Greene was ousted by the board in July, just before the company publicly announced slowing growth.
7) What Japanese consumer-electronics executive recently saw his company's market value vault to No. 4 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange?
A. Fujio Mitarai, Canon Inc.
B. Satoru Iwata, Nintendo Co.
C. Howard Stringer, Sony Corp.
D. Masayoshi Son, Softbank Corp.
ANSWER: B. At the end of July, Nintendo, benefiting from soaring sales of the Wii videogame console, was ranked No. 4, behind Toyota Motor Corp., Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and mobile-telecommunications provider NTT DoCoMo Inc., all of which have much larger annual revenue. Nintendo had climbed even higher in the past: It briefly hit No. 2 behind only Toyota last year. At the end of July, printer and camera maker Canon ranked sixth; Sony ranked 14th and Internet and cellphone company Softbank ranked 40th.
8) In what country is Jacob "Kobi" Alexander, former chief executive of Comverse Technology Inc., fighting extradition to the U.S. to face charges of backdating stock options?
A. Namibia
B. Bermuda
C. Jamaica
D. Moldova
ANSWER: A. Namibia, a small African nation that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the U.S., is where Mr. Alexander fled in 2006. He is living in a guarded, gated community alongside a golf course. In March, he hosted a party for his son's bar mitzvah, which was attended by more than 200 guests, including some from his son's school in New York, and an Israeli hip-hop artist with an 11-piece backup band.
9) Major companies that buy or build online units often find they come with challenges. Match the executive and his or her company's online subsidiary, all of which face business problems.
A. Jeff Bewkes
B. Katharine Weymouth
C. Steve Ballmer
D. Les Moonves
1. Washingtonpost.com
2. MSN
3. AOL
4. CNET
ANSWERS: A-3. Mr. Bewkes, in his first year as CEO of Time Warner Inc., needs to straighten out or sell the AOL unit, which is losing subscribers rapidly. B-1. Ms. Weymouth, the new publisher of the Washington Post, is committed to eliminating the separation between the paper and online versions of the publication. C-2. Microsoft's CEO, having failed to acquire Yahoo, needs to figure out a strategy to help MSN compete with Google. D-4. Mr. Moonves, CEO of CBS Corp., has to boost revenue and profit growth at CNET to justify the $1.8 billion cash CBS paid for the technology-oriented online news service in an acquisition completed June 30.
By: William Bulkeley
Wall Street Journal; September 29, 2008
