UPDATED 00:24 EDT / MAY 11 2016

NEWS

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger could leave this summer, report says

VMware Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger could leave the company once Dell Inc. completes its acquisition of parent company EMC Corp. later this year, according to a report in CRN that cites “multiple sources with knowledge of the executive’s plans.”

The report prompted both EMC and VMware to issue quick denials of the story. “That is categorically untrue,” an EMC spokesperson told CRN.

CRN offered a number of reasons why Gelsinger might be about to leave. The most pressing concern is that Gelsinger is directly responsible for the disappointing performance of the company’s vCloud Air hybrid cloud service, which has struggled to make inroads in the cloud market. VCloud Air’s top dog Bill Fathers only just left the company himself last month, and CRN‘s anonymous source added that there’s been “a number of missteps at VMware, including vCloud Air.”

Another possible reason for Gelsinger’s departure is that some top execs at Dell and EMC don’t believe he is a team player. CRN‘s sources say Gelsinger hasn’t been cooperative enough within EMC’s federation of companies, which also includes Pivotal Software, RSA Security, VCE and Virtustream. “The goal of Dell Technologies is to work closer as a team,” the source said. “I don’t know if Pat is completely on board with that model.”

The source may have been alluding to the way in which Gelsinger poured cold water on Dell and EMC’s plans to combine vCloud Air with Virtustream to create a joint cloud venture once the acquisition was complete. That plan was apparently conceived by Dell and EMC’s top leadership against VMware’s and Virtustream’s wishes, and caused VMware’s shares to plummet when the news went public. Shortly after that, VMware said it was pulling out of the joint venture in a move that was said to have “annoyed” EMC’s CEO Joe Tucci, Re/Code reported last December.

Gelsinger’s future at the soon-to-be-created Dell Technologies came under question just last week when he failed to appear at EMC World, as he has done before. His regular keynote slot was instead filled by Michael Dell.

However, in an interview on SiliconANGLE‘s event coverage show theCUBE, VMware Chief Marketing Officer Robin Matlock was quick to dismiss any speculation that Gelsinger’s non-appearance might suggest he planned to leave the company.

“Let me just put these rumors to rest,” Matlock told theCUBE hosts John Furrier and Dave Vellante. “Pat Gelsinger is fired up and excited about VMware and our future and the role we play in the Dell Technologies family.” She added that Gelsinger’s no-show was a strategic decision designed to give EMC Chief Executive Officer Joe Tucci and Michael Dell more air time, and that VMware was being represented at the show by several key executives anyhow.

“The bottom line is that the Dell/EMC merger is one of the biggest, most important topics that had to get covered here, and who better to tell that story than Michael Dell and Joe Tucci?” Matlock added. “There’s nothing more to it than that. Pat is alive and well. Trust me, he’s very engaged. I don’t even see it as an issue. I see it as an opportunity. I’m the one that called the shot for Pat. I didn’t think it was the right place [for him to appear].”

CRN says that Gelsinger’s departure from VMware will most likely be announced at the company’s VMworld 2016 conference in Las Vegas, which takes place from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1.

As to who might replace Gelsinger, CRN suggests that ex-Microsoft executive Tony Bates, who joined VMware’s board in February, and currently serves as president of GoPro, might be in the frame. It added that several other unnamed executives from Dell and EMC are also being considered.

Image credit: SiliconANGLE

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