SCO CEO likely will be forced out of job
Date: Tuesday, March 04 2008 @ 20:24:16 EST
Topic: SCO related
Darl McBride said Monday he
regrets that he is being pushed out as CEO of The SCO Group software
company but not his decision to sue IBM and Novell, lawsuits that led
to the company's bankruptcy and ultimately his departure.
McBride will no longer be CEO of the Lindon-based company if a
bankruptcy judge approves the company's reorganization plan that aims
to bring in new owners.
A new CEO and management
team will be presented at SCO's annual conference in Las Vegas in
August, along with new partners and products and a focus on emerging
markets, according to documents filed in federal bankruptcy court.
McBride, who became CEO in 2002, instigated the lawsuits
against IBM and then a related one against Novell over ownership of the
Unix computer operating code and allegations IBM used Unix as the basis
for improving the competing Linux operating system.
Adverse rulings in federal court in Utah led SCO to file for
bankruptcy in Delaware, where it is registered as a corporation.
"Clearly when we draw up a battle plan for what we've been
working for the last several years, trying to get SCO's intellectual
property rights fought through in the courts and the marketplace, the
endgame didn't have this sort of outcome for me personally," McBride
said in an interview.
McBride said he could have fought to keep his position but would
have risked killing the deal that brings in Stephen Norris Capital Partners as the new majority owners of the company.
"I realized that by my winning the fight of staying engaged at
SCO, it may be to the huge detriment of shareholders, customers and
employees," he said, expressing optimism about SCO's future under
Stephen Norris.
The company filed its reorganization plan Friday that, if
approved, would mean publicly traded SCO would go private with Stephen
Norris Capital Partners holding a majority interest.
Stephen Norris did not return a phone call seeking comment.
The sketchy information about plans for the Las Vegas event
shows that the proposed new owners see growth opportunities for SCO's
products in emerging markets such as the Middle East, Africa, Brazil,
Russia, India and China.
Under the plan, Stephen Norris and unnamed Middle Eastern
partners would provide only $5 million up front for a majority interest
but make available up to $95 million more if needed.
McBride initiated the IBM lawsuit in 2003 seeking at least $1
billion in damages and rattling the open-source community that backs
Linux, whose code is available for free and can be altered by
individuals or companies who can then sell those related products.
The SCO Group filed suit in January 2004 against Novell,
alleging it was interfering with its ownership of Unix. However, a
ruling last year said Novell owned the Unix copyright that SCO believes
it bought in 1995. Trial is set for April to see if SCO owes Novell any
of a potential $37 million in licensing fees and interest.
McBride said he had no choice but to initiate the lawsuit in
2003, with the company was just months away from failing because of
competition from Linux.
"The open-source people who worked at the company at the time
were the ones who flagged to me the problem of intellectual property
problems in Linux in relation to our Unix," he said.
McBride has not yet negotiated any severance pay.
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