Symantec Corp share price up, fires CEO Bennett amid declining sales and revenue

Symantec Corp., which is the largest manufacturer of personal computer security and anti-virus software in the world, decided to fire Steve Bennett, who has been occupying the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of the company for less than two years, due to declining revenue and decreasing sales.

The companys revenue has decreased in two consecutive quarters and marked a 4.8% decline to 1.7 billion dollars in the three months through December 27th.

A person with knowledge of the situation reported that Symantec was also troubled about its product strategy. The person commented for the Financial Times: “It is hard when an organisation goes through that much turnover, it loses institutional knowledge and hurts momentum. When you see that amount of turnover it might be an underlying problem with the leadership.”

The company made an official statement, announcing its decision. Symantec explained that it is a part of an “ongoing process” and “terminating” Mr. Bennet as CEO is not based on any event on impropriety. Daniel Schulman, who is the current Chairman of Symantec Corp. said in the statement that one of the main priorities of the company will stay focused on its target of revenue growth.

Part of Mr. Schulmans statement was cited by Bloomberg: “Our priority is now to identify a leader who can leverage our company’s assets and leadership team to drive the next stage of Symantec’s product innovation and growth. This considered decision was the result of an ongoing deliberative process, and not precipitated by any event or impropriety.”

The companys board member Michael Brown was appointed as interim Chief Executive Officer while Symantec Corp. is looking for a successor to Mr. Bennett. The company explained in its statement that it is working in cooperation with an executive search firm in order to find a permanent replacement.

Mr. Steve Bennett first joined the company as a Chairman and then took the position of Chief Executive Officer in July 2012, replacing Mr. Enrique Salem. Since last July, five senior executives departed, all sharing their beliefs that Mr. Bennett was not an appropriate choice for the CEO position, according to another person familiar with these issues.

One of the analysts working for FBR Capital Merkets & Co. – Daniel Ives, said for Bloomberg: “It’s jaw-dropping. Bennett is the face of the turnaround at Symantec. Investors bought into him leading this turnaround, so the fact that now he gets fired at this critical juncture, I view it as a major black eye.”

Mr. Bennett did not respond to e-mail requests to comment the situation.

Symantec Corp. rose by 1.58% on Thursday to close the session at $20.91 a share, marking a one-year change of -14.32%. The company is valued at $14.46 billion According to CNN Money, the 22 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Symantec Corp. have a median target of $26.00, with a high estimate of $33.00 and a low estimate of $18.00. The median estimate represents a +24.37% increase from the last price.